Bristol City’s expected starting line-up vs Preston North End with new signing primed for debut

The Robins are looking put behind their midweek defeat to Luton behind them by issuing the perfect response.

Preston come into the match having beaten promotion chasing West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday.

Deepdale hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for City and their record against them is poor with just one win in their last ten games against the Lilywhites.

To help put that right, we take a look at how Nigel Pearson may assemble his team tomorrow.

In between the sticks remains Max O’Leary despite not keeping a clean sheet since his inclusion in the side. The last time he kept out a goal was in March 2021 against Blackburn Rovers.

If Curtis Fleming’s comments are anything to go by then for the foreseeable future, the Ireland international will remain between the sticks.

"If the manager feels like he needs to make a change, but it’s not in his mind,” said Fleming who was deputising for Pearson in his pre-match presser.

“He’s not thinking about that at the moment. "I think with Max’s overall game over the last few months, he’s been outstanding in training and that’s not to say that Bents (Bentley) hasn’t.”

A key decision to be made is whether to throw Timm Klose straight in for his debut after signing this week. He’s not played a game since last summer and he couldn’t get a run out for the Under-23’s due to a paper work issue. The only way to get match fitness is to play games so perhaps Klose could get a nod given the tests he went through this week.

Starting alongside him as the other centre-backs would be Cameron Pring who offers something going forward too, as well as Tomas Kalas who is one of Pearson’s undroppable players.

Starting as wing-backs, Callum O’Dowda and Jay Dasilva should slot in as they have done recently, though neither’s position is safe after they were both substituted.

Alex Scott could always play in the wing-back role to accommodate the full return of Joe Williams who made a cameo appearance against Luton.

Han-Noah Massengo has started a good number of games now and is an obvious talent, offering City something in both boxes.

Playing just behind the two strikers is top scorer Andreas Weimann who wore the captains armband in Tuesday’s loss. He equalised for City in the same role he’s being tipped to play.

Up front, Antoine Semenyo and Chris Martin should partner one another once more. The pair caused problems against Cardiff but struggled against Luton.

Semenyo has been in terrific form since returning and he compliments Martin, who gets shooting opportunities from Semenyo’s tireless running.

Predicted Bristol City XI: Max O’Leary; Cameron Pring, Timm Klose, Tomas Kalas, Callum O’Dowda, Alex Scott, Han-Noah Massengo, Jay Dasilva, Andreas Weimann, Chris Martin, Antoine Semenyo.