The latest team news as Preston North End prepare to face Championship promotion contenders Sheffield United and Sunderland over the next week.

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has delivered a major fitness update as his side prepare to visit promotion candidates Sheffield United and Sunderland over the next week.

The Deepdale outfit are currently sat in fifteenth place in the Championship table and look set for a mid-table finish this season as they sit 12 points clear of the relegation zone and nine points adrift of the play-off places. Their struggles to find any consistency has been played out during their last five games after Heckingbottom’s side claimed one win and three draws as well as suffering one defeat during that period.

An uninspiring home draw with Swansea City on Tuesday night extended their run without a win to a fourth game and that is hardly ideal preparation for an away day double with two sides firmly in the race for promotion into the Premier League league. Further injury concerns only added to Heckingbottom’s disappointment as midfielder Stefan Thordarson dropped out of the matchday squad after suffering a tight hamstring as his name was added to a list of absentees already containing the likes of Ben Whiteman, Duane Holmes and Mads Frokjaer. In yet another blow, Ali McCann suffered a calf issue and was replaced by Andrew Hughes with just over 20 minutes remaining at Deepdale.

With two challenging away days lying in wait over the next seven days, Heckingbottom has delivered an update on the fitness of both Thordarson and McCann and confirmed he is awaiting further news on the injury suffered by the latter on Tuesday night.

As per the Lancashire Evening Post, Heckingbottom said: “(Thordarson) felt his hamstring, so we ended up scanning it today and there's no damage, it's fine. But he went to walk and was still wary of it, sprinting and reluctant, so we can't take the chance. We just pulled him out altogether. The plan was for him to be on the bench but my conversations with him today at the ground and then him warming up and still aware... it was pointless even having him on the bench. If he's not confident coming on for 30 minutes for Ryan Ledson, for example, when we need him, then it's pointless. Stefan will be fine for the weekend. Calf (issue for McCann) - I don't know (if it’s bad) yet, we'll see,” he added.

What are Sunderland expected to do?

Meanwhile, having made five changes to his Sunderland XI at Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, the expectation is that Régis Le Bris might well return to something a little more familiar when Cardiff City visit the Stadium of Light this weekend. Chris Rigg, Dennis Cirkin and Wilson Isidor were all given a welcome break from the rigours of Championship football, instead deployed as effective impact substitutes. Given their importance to Le Bris's side so far this season, it would be a surprise if they were not immediately restored this weekend for the visit of Cardiff City.

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