Months after close shave with relegation, North End face Blackburn on Friday night with second spot in their sights

There is a refreshingly unfamiliar feel to the Championship top six. None of the incumbents have played in the Premier League this decade, a rarity in the modern-day second tier where those in receipt of parachute payments tend to rule the roost. In fact, of the top 11, only seventh-placed Ipswich have featured in the past seven top-flight seasons.

Preston are one of the few in that group never to have graced the Premier League, this their 11th consecutive Championship campaign. Unfancied and unfashionable in the current climate, they were widely tipped to struggle after a disastrous finish to last season, but under Paul Heckingbottom they sit fourth going into a crunch der

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