Bristol City’s next opponents Preston North End dealt injury blow with four ruled out

Bristol City’s opponents Preston North End are set to be without four players for their season opener on Saturday.

The Lilywhites are the Robins first opponents of the season but several players will have to sit out of the clash at Ashton Gate. Ryan Lowe has admitted that a few players are injured, whilst another requires game time in a different match.

Emil Riis, Ched Evans, Ben Whiteman and Robbie Brady are all ruled out according to BBC Sport Lancashire reporter Andy Bayes. New summer signing Calvin Ramsay meanwhile ‘needs game time’ and is instead tipped to start against Salford City in the Carabao Cup instead.

Riis is recovering from a lengthly lay-off after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Stoke City in January. He is not expected to return to action until September, after undergoing an operation.

Fellow striker Ched Evans meanwhile was at risk of not playing professional football again. His injury was described as ‘potentially life-changing’ but after undergoing going successful surgery he is in contention of playing again. He’s on the road to recovery and trained with his teammates in their pre-season camp in Spain.

Ben Whiteman will be absent in midfield for Preston after undergoing a hernia operation in July. He had a groin problem towards the end of last season, and to resolve the issue, he has taken the procedure neccessary to solve it but will miss the start of the campaign.

First-team manager Ryan Lowe said about Whiteman last month: “We don’t want to rush him back, he had this injury towards the end of the season, hence why he missed the last part of it, we didn’t want to rush him when we knew there wasn’t an opportunity to get where we wanted to be.

“It was just a case of trying to shut him down. He’s had setbacks here and there in pre-season and we’ll just try and manage him right the way through.”

Preston have also sold Bambo Diaby to league rivals Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee. The 25-year-old made 25 appearances in total for the Lancashire outfit after joining from Barnsley in February 2022. He has joined the Owls on a three-year deal.