Preston North End manager talks about the unpredictability of the derby with Blackpool on the horizon

PNE will be making the short trip up the M55 to Bloomfield Road for the 12:30pm kick off but Lowe admits he doesn’t know what sort of game it’s going to be.

He’s focusing solely on his side, despite the Seasider’s loss in midweek to Hull City.

He said: "I couldn't tell you what kind of game it will be, I don't know what they will do. I know they lost on Wednesday but my focus is not too much on them but on what we can do. We'll still put a game plan together like we do every week for every team and hopefully the lads follow it but obviously there will be added spice because it's the derby.”

There will undoubtedly be a heated atmopshere during the derby and Lowe is not wanting his players to switch off from it. Last season Alan Browne was sent off as PNE fell to defeat, but the current Lilywhites boss is still encouraging his players to be emotionally involved in the game.

The key for Lowe is how they channel it and the level that they involve themselves, he’s keen for it not to spill over but once them to show how much the club means to them in the fixture.

He said: “My players are emotionally attached to Preston North End football club and our fans, that's what we want. We want them to wear their hearts on their sleeve but we have got to have a calmness in that.

"We don't want to get embroiled in any sort of off the field antics and what goes around. We have to make sure we're fully focused on trying to win a game of football.

"I know how intense this game is going to be for both sets of fans. We're going to want the best outcome for Preston North End, that's going to be our aim.

“We can't do it if we give a rubbish free kick away or a rubbish foul away, or we don't track a runner. We can't be too worried about it, we know what they're about and we've just got to make sure we're better than them in most departments.”