Bristol City's victory last night took them off the bottom of the table leaving Preston propping up the division at kick off today.
Early preview:
Preston loanee Eoin Doyle will be unable to play against parent club Cardiff at Deepdale.
The 27-year-old Irishman is on a season-long loan deal with North End but cannot face the Bluebirds due to the terms of the contract.
Lilywhites manager Simon Grayson is hopeful that both Paul Gallagher (hamstring) and Paul Huntington (calf) can return to contention while Bailey Wright is free from suspension and back from international duty with Australia.
Joe Garner is still banned and Jermaine Beckford and Paddy McCarthy (both knee) are absent, but Marnick Vermijl is available after being ineligible to face Sheffield Wednesday last time out.
Cardiff are without defender Bruno Manga after he was injured on international duty with Gabon.
Manga returned with a groin problem and Bluebirds boss Russell Slade expects the centre-half to be out for between eight and nine weeks.
With Ben Turner also expected to be out for at least another month, Sean Morrison and Matthew Connolly will continue their partnership.
Goalkeeper David Marshall is back after serving a two-game ban.
Betting Preview
Despite their lowly position in the Championship Preston are marginal 7/5 favourites with Sky Bet ahead of the visit of Cardiff (2/1) with the draw 9/4. Preston have won five of their previous seven home league matches against the Bluebirds and are available at 4/1 to win with both teams scoring. Cardiff's in-form striker Joe Mason is 11/2 favourite to open the scoring and 2/1 to net a sixth goal of the season. Sky Sports Football League pundit Ian Holloway thinks it will be tight and is backing a 1-1 draw at 9/2.
Match referee: Stuart Attwell.