The Preston danger-man out to derail Southampton and revive his dire side

Championship neutrals will be expecting Southampton to wipe the floor with Preston North End when the two teams meet on Saturday.

Indeed, looking at the Championship table, the Saints are way ahead of the lowly hosts, heading into the showdown at Deepdale, with Tonda Eckert's men a whopping 21 points ahead of the Lilywhites after 14 games.

Preston have been rooted to the bottom of the table for a lot of the season so far, with just one win next to their name, next to Southampton's eight victories.

The appointment of club legend Graham Alexander has done little to raise the optimism levels in Lancashire, with many Preston supporters already resigned to the drop, as another loss is expected on Saturday.

However, there is one danger-man in the Preston ranks who will be wanting to derail the Saints, who sticks out as Alexander and Co's top goalscorer this season.

The basement dwellers haven't been firing on all cylinders in-front of goal this season.

At the time of writing, they have only 12 Championship goals to shout about, with blanks in-front of goal occurring in defeats to Millwall, Stoke City, and Birmingham City last month.

Callum Lang will be hoping he can get the better of Daniel Peretz on Saturday to ensure another blank isn't served up, with the Liverpool-born striker up to four goals for the season to be the relegation-doomed club's top goalscorer.

Two of those goals would come about during the Lilywhites' only Championship win of the season so far, as their bitter Lancashire rivals, Blackburn Rovers, lost on their short travels over to Deepdale 2-1.

Since that standout brace in early September, he has blown hot-and-cold, but he did score last time out, as the one-time Wigan Athletic striker bagged a consolation effort during a demoralising 3-2 defeat at the hands of Sheffield United.

Lang has been around the block, away from his current gloomy predicament, with 73 strikes collected across his lengthy career to date playing in League Two, League One, and the Championship, for the likes of the Latics, Preston, and Oldham Athletic.

He also called Portsmouth home for 53 clashes, before moving to Preston in a bumper £2m switch, which will make him even more fired up to shock the Saints to revive his sorry's team depressing season.

The Preston number ten would never get the opportunity to play in a South Coast Derby for Pompey.

His red-hot streak of ten goals for Portsmouth during the 2024/25 Championship season coincided with the Saints being in the Premier League, so he will be desperate to stick the blade in, as a past member of Southampton's sworn enemy.

He has very fond memories of Fratton Park, too, which will make the contest on Saturday one he will be looking forward to, with Lang last November stating that "I just love playing here" when talking about lining up for John Mousinho's men.

This could be just the game, therefore, for Preston to pick up their long-awaited second Championship win of the season, as their leading marksman attempts everything in his power to spearhead Alexander's men to a surprise three points.

Southampton will feel they can deal with Lang comfortably, on the other hand, as one more win is chased after against the bottom-of-the-table hosts, before the international break intervenes.