Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs Preston North End - prediction, team news, lineups

Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End will continue their pre-season preparations ahead of the 2026-27 term on Saturday, when they meet in a friendly.

PNE made a winning start to their pre-season on Tuesday, while their opponents have managed a defeat and a draw thus far.

Match preview

Sheffield Wednesday return to friendly action on Saturday in search of a first win of pre-season as they gear up for a fresh start back in League One.

They endured a dismal campaign in England's second tier last time around, finishing on zero points having faced deductions totalling 18 points while only managing two victories alongside 32 defeats.

Those deductions came due to financial issues and the club's eventual entering of administration in late 2025, but the feeling coming out of the painful campaign was one of optimism following the completion of a takeover and exit from administration.

David Storch, the face of the Owls' new US-consortium ownership, was in attendance for their final game of the season at Hillsborough, in which they secured a first home victory of the campaign and confirmed that anticipated points deductions in the upcoming League One campaign would no longer be in place.

Having now started pre-season with a 3-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion and a draw in a friendly with local eighth-tier side Hallam while fielding a young squad, Sheffield Wednesday will now go in search of a win to boost their optimism ahead of the campaign alongside what has already been encouraging summer business.

Their opponents, meanwhile, face league opposition for the first time in pre-season as they ramp up their preparations for another Championship season.

The 2025-26 season saw Preston North End improve on a tough prior season and finish 14th in England's second tier under Paul Heckingbottom on 60 points.

That left them just two outside of the top half and four points off the top 10, despite 15 teams scoring more than their 55 goals and and 15 conceding fewer than the 62 they allowed.

Now looking to kick on in their third season under Heckingbottom, they kicked off pre-season against seventh-tier Bamber Bridge this week and ran out as 4-1 winners with Milutin Osmajic, Jordan Storey, Lewis Gibson and Ben Whiteman on the scoresheet.

Now on the back of their first run out, Preston North End will look to lift the intensity in a tougher friendly on Saturday as they build towards the start of their 12th consecutive second-tier campaign.

Sheffield Wednesday Friendlies form:

Preston North End Friendlies form:

Team News

Sheffield Wednesday fielded two different XIs in last week's friendly against West Bromwich Albion, and after a young group took on Hallam in midweek, Henrik Pedersen may move slightly closer to a full-strength setup in Saturday's game.

The Owls have acted to improve on last season's thin and inexperienced squad this summer, with Ricardo Santos, Sil Swinkels, Callum Slattery, Jordi Liongola, Harry Gray, Louie Barry and returning talisman Barry Bannan all coming in and competing for starting spots in the season.

Joe Lumley, who played two games on an emergency loan last term, has also arrived and may take the gloves after Pierce Charles's departure to Manchester City.

Paul Heckingbottom also fielded different Preston North End XIs for each half of their pre-season opener with Bamber Bridge, as key men like Ben Whiteman, Jordan Storey, Andrew Hughes, Odel Offiah and Alfie Devine all played 45 minutes.

Devine was a key summer addition, as the loanee from last season made his move from Tottenham Hotspur permanent, while Jusef Erabi has since arrived on loan from Genk and may turn out for the first time for his new club at the weekend.

Wide man Thierry Small was forced off after 30 minutes of the first half, but he is believed to be fit to feature in Saturday's friendly.

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:

Lumley; Swinkels, Santos, Otegbayo; Palmer, Slattery, Bannan, M Lowe; Liongola, McNeill, Barry

Preston North End possible starting lineup:

Iversen; Offiah, Lindsay, Hughes, Small; Lang, Devine, Whiteman, Moran; Osmajic, Erabi

We say: Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Preston North End

Things are certainly on the up for Sheffield Wednesday as a fresh start approaches with a new squad, but they struggled against Championship opposition in their first friendly and may not be ready to challenge Preston North End at this stage of pre-season.

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