THE GROUND
Deepdale
Sir Tom Finney Way
Preston
Lancashire
PR1 6RU
Deepdale has been the home of Preston North End FC since the club played its first match more than 130 years ago.
Over the past 15 years the 23,404 capacity ground has been completely redeveloped, with four brand new stands.
Away supporters are usually housed in one half of The Bill Shankly Kop end of the ground, behind one goal, and there is room for 3,000 visiting fans.
It is approximately 227 miles from Griffin Park to Deepdale by road.
The usual route would involve taking the M6 to junction 31 and then the A59 and A5058 to meet Sir Tom Finney Way.
There is no parking at the ground but nearby Moor Park High School offers parking.
The nearest station is Preston, which is just over a mile from Deepdale.
Preston is served by Virgin Trains services from Euston.
The Supporters’ Association will be running coaches to every game this season – details of times and prices will be announced in due course.
Brentford will travel to Deepdale to take on Preston on Saturday December 21, their last game before Christmas.
North End will then come to Griffin Park on Good Friday, April 18, for Brentford’s penultimate home match of the season.
THE RECENT HISTORY
Preston North End are now in their third season back in League One and will be looking to make a promotion push this time.
Since relegation from The Championship in 2011 the Lancashire side have finished 15th and 14th in League One, despite being tipped for much better.
They started well in 2011/12 and took 22 points from their first nine games before eight defeats in nine dropped them off the pace and they finished 19 points outside the Play-Offs.
Graham Westley took over as manager during the season and revamped the squad for a promotion push last term.
Preston could not, however, put together a consistent run of form to take them in to the promotion race.
They did not win three games in a row all season and two wins in 17 games between October 23 and February 16 ended any hopes.
Westley was replaced by Simon Grayson in February and Preston eventually finished 14th, 15 points adrift of the Play-Off zone.
The Lancashire club are one of the Football League’s oldest – they were founded as a cricket club in 1862 but did not play their first football match until 1878.
They were founder members of the Football League, were inaugural champions, without losing a game, and won the FA Cup in the same season.
They won the league again the following year and FA Cup again in 1938 but by the mid-1990s they were a fourth tier team and had not been in the top flight for more than 30 years.
But they won the fourth tier title in 1996 and the third tier one in 2000 to establish themselves as a Championship club.
They almost went even better – losing in two Play-Off finals and two semi-finals – before relegation back to the third tier in 2011.
THE MANAGER
Simon Grayson took over as Preston manager in February after Graham Westley was sacked.
Grayson has a history of getting teams promoted from the third tier and will be trying to do the same at Deepdale.
He spent most of his playing career in the centre of midfield for Leicester City and Blackpool.
He also played in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.
Grayson moved in to management at Blackpool in 2005, he kept them up in his first season in charge and then took them up from the third tier via the League One Play-Offs in 2007.
He kept them in The Championship before a move to Leeds United in December 2008.
Leeds lost in the Play-Offs in his first season in charge but won promotion in 2010 before narrowly missing out on the Championship Play-Offs in 2011.
Grayson was sacked at Leeds in 2012 and moved to Huddersfield Town, taking them to the League One Play-Off Final a few months later and leading them to a penalty shoot-out win over Sheffield United and promotion.
He was sacked by Huddersfield midway through the following season and took over at Preston.
THE TOP SCORER
Midfield player Nicky Wroe ended 2012/13 as Preston’s top goal scorer.
He hit 11 in all competitions for the Lancashire side and eight in League One.
Wroe joined Preston from Shrewsbury Town in the summer of 2012 and had previously played for clubs including Barnsley and Torquay United.
His goal total was the second best of his career after he notched 13 for Torquay in League Two in 2009/10.
THE KEY MEN
There was a massive turnover of players at Preston under Graham Westley, particularly last summer when 15 were released and others moved on.
The squad is likely to see fewer changes ahead of the 2013/14 season as there are very few players out of contract.
Defenders Luke Foster and Chris Robertson have left Deepdale along with midfield player Andrew Procter but the rest of the squad is unchanged, apart from the departure of loan defender Paul Connelly.
Preston used three goalkeepers last season – Thurston Stuckmann, Steve Simonsen and Declan Rudd – and Bailey Wright was the main man in defence, playing 38 games.
David Buchanan played 38 games in defence and giant centre back Paul Huntington played 37 while first choice left back Scott Laird missed a large chunk of the season injured.
Jack King played 36 games in midfield while John Welsh played 36 and top scorer Nicky Wroe played 38.
Former Brentford trialist winger Jeffrey Monakana scored four goals in 38 appearances and striker Stuart Beavon scored six in 31 games.
Preston will be looking to add more goals this season and will be boosted by the return of Iain Hume from a season long loan spell at Doncaster Rovers.
Defender Tom Clarke has signed from Huddersfield Town and Preston have also signed Motherwell winger Chris Humphrey and goalkeeper Declan Rudd on loan from Norwich City – the stopper had also been on loan at Deepdale last season.
THE FIRST MEETING
January 14 1911, FA Cup First Round – Brentford 0 Preston North End 1
Brentford line-up: Ling; Rhodes, Buxton; Richards, Hamilton, Kennedy; Ryalls, Bartlett, Reid, Hollinrake, Anderson
Southern League Brentford are beaten by a solitary goal by First Division Preston North End.
THE LAST MEETING
March 16 2013, npower League One – Brentford 1 Preston North End 0
Brentford line-up: S. Moore; Logan, L. Moore, Dean, Craig (sub Bidwell); Adeyemi (sub Forshaw), Douglas, Diagouraga; Saunders; Donaldson, Wright-Phillips (sub Trotta)
Subs (not used): Gounet, Reeves, Dallas, Forrester
Brentford goal scorer: Saunders
Sam Saunders smashed home a stoppage time penalty to give Brentford a 1-0 win over Preston North End.
Click here for a full match report.
THE MEMORABLE DAY
March 5 1938, FA Cup Sixth Round – Brentford 0 Preston North End 3
Brentford line-up: Crozier; Brown, Bateman; McKenzie, James, Sneddon; Smith, Eastham, McCulloch, Scott Reid
Brentford hopes of a league and cup double were ended in their first ever FA Cup Sixth Round tie.