Preston North End

Image source, Rex Features

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson says Aston Villa "won't relish" being drawn away to Preston North End in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The Lilywhites reached the last eight for the first time since the year England won the World Cup, 1966, courtesy of a 3-0 derby win over Burnley at Deepdale on Saturday and they are the last EFL side left in the competition.

"It's the quarter-final of the FA Cup - Villa won't be relishing the challenge at Preston," Robinson told the BBC Football Daily: FA Cup Debrief podcast.

"No disrespect to Preston but everyone will have wanted them at home, nobody will have fancied going there.

"He's done well there, Paul Heckingbottom. What I've seen of Preston since he's gone in, he's recruited well, changed the style of football."

Robinson ended his career with Burnley but encouraged the Clarets' rivals to seize their opportunity.

He added: "They are a Preston side who are playing the best football I've seen them play in a number of years. I think they are in a really good place.

"I don't like the saying 'it's a free hit' but it absolutely is for Preston - go and enjoy it!"

The draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals has been made. Here are the four ties in the order they were drawn.

Games will be played over the final weekend of March.

• Fulham v Crystal Palace

• Preston v Aston Villa

• Bournemouth v Manchester City

• Brighton v Nottingham Forest/Ipswich

Image source, Rex Features

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom says he is grateful for being without a midweek game ahead of next Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round Lancashire derby against Burnley.

"We've got a free week," he told BBC Radio Lancashire. "We need to use it really well.

"We've been trying to make changes and manage the group to keep the energy because it's a big part of how we play."

Although they only lost 2-1 at Frank Lampard's Coventry, Heckingbottom knows they could have have been more well beaten after becoming the first PNE boss to lose a league game to Coventry since Paul Simpson in 22 meetings since September 2007.

"We were second best for large parts," he said. "We lacked penetration and threat.

"We made changes at half-time but it was 75 minutes gone before we got in down the side. And, when we got in behind them, the final pass was missing, which meant we didn't get the opportunities.

"I could feel it coming five minutes before their first goal and you're thinking we need to change something here. But, from the goal onwards, all we got something out of the game would have just been the spirit and the character of the players.

"There were too many not at the level we've been playing at, which made it

difficult.

"It just looked, in my eye, a game too far for us. I'd love to have that game back again."

North End, who are now 15th having won just once in five league games, are scheduled to return to Championship duty on Tuesday week (4 March) with a home game against Swansea City.

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Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom admits he "suffered" during his two-match touchline ban as he prepares for a return against Coventry on Saturday.

Heckingbottom missed draws Burnley and Millwall this week after being punished for a red card in the win at Watford on January 21.

He will return to the touchline for this weekend's trip to the Coventry Building Society Arena.

"I'm the one who suffers," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire. "We do all the work in the week. Game day, I feel helpless.

"The biggest thing is I'm not as emotionally involved in the game as I am on the sidelines. When you are detached you feel like you've lost your right arm.

"After the game, too. It is the not the same highs and lows. People say you can get more insight [from higher up in the stands] but I'm pretty good at that because your work gets done during the week.

"You know what is coming. I just want to be on the side of the pitch."

Heckingbottom says Frank Lampard has not changed Coventry's approach since replacing Mark Robins but expects them to come out fighting.

"It seems to be the same players, same system. They seem to have more confidence and have more energy. They pass the ball with an intent to create and win the game.

"We know it is going to be difficult, going there."

Coventry picked up their sixth win in seven Championship games last time out against Sheffield Wednesday after Ellis Simms' stoppage-time winner. A win that proved significant against a fellow play-off chaser as they are just now a point behind the top six.

Preston earned a 1-1 draw against Millwall in the their last outing missing the chance to put them four points off the play-off places in the Championship table.

Lilywhites boss Paul Heckingbottom completed the second of his two-match touchline ban following his red card in the win at Watford in January, meaning he will be back on the bench at the CBS Arena.

• Coventry City have failed to win any of their last 22 league games against Preston North End (D8 L14), keeping just two clean sheets in that time since a 2-1 win in September 2007.

• Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Preston North End have beaten Coventry City nine times in 11 attempts – their most joint-league wins against any side in that time.

• Since Frank Lampard's first Championship game in charge of Coventry, only Leeds (37), Burnley (32) and Sheffield United (32) have won more points in the division than the Sky Blues (30 – W9 D3 L4)

• Preston have won two of their last three away league games (L1), more than they managed in their previous 18 combined (W1 D7 L10).

• Coventry's Jack Rudoni has 10 Championship assists this season, the most by a Sky Blues player in a league season since 2022-23 when both Gus Hamer and Viktor Gyökeres assisted 10. His assists have won Coventry 14 points, the most of any Championship player this season.

Image source, Rex Features

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom said his side were the dominant team in the draw with Millwall on Tuesday.

Emil Riis Jakobsen's long-range strike earned North End a point at Deepdale, cancelling out Mihailo Ivanovic's first-half free-kick, but Heckingbottom believes his side deserved all three.

"We were certainly the dominant team but it's a positive point," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"There were some good performances from a lot of the players and we come away from that positively, or maybe it's the fact I'm not up in the stands anymore I'm feeling good."

Heckingbottom completed the second of his two-match touchline ban following his red card in the win at Watford in January, meaning he will be back on the bench for Preston's trip to Coventry on Saturday.

"I bet we've doubled their shots, I bet we've quadrupled their touches in the box," the former Sheffield United manager added.

"We were the more dangerous team, so, I'm pleased with that but not pleased we haven't got the three points."

In-form Preston, in 15th, welcome 14th-placed Millwall on Tuesday (19:45 GMT) with the Lilywhites hoping to extend their unbeaten home league run to 11 games.

Paul Heckingbottom's side picked up a point against Lancashire rivals Burnley in a stalemate at Deepdale last time out on Saturday.

The Lions also go into the game on the back of a draw after being forced to settle for 1-1 at home to West Brom on the same day.

With both sides on 41 points, victory for either side would move them to within four points of the play-off places.

• Preston North End are winless in their last 11 league encounters with Millwall (D4 L7), including a 3-1 defeat in the reverse fixture in September.

• Millwall haven't lost an away league game at Preston since a 3-2 defeat in December 2018, winning on three of their five trips since (D2)

• Preston have only won one of their last 12 Championship games against London clubs (D3 L8), a 2-0 win at QPR in April 2023.

• Millwall have won two of their last three away league games, although lost their last 5-1 at Plymouth – the first time they had shipped 5+ goals in an away game in the Championship since May 2021 at Coventry (1-6).

• Millwall manager Alex Neil has lost three of his four previous league meetings against former side Preston as a manager, though did win his only such trip to Deepdale with Stoke City in October 2022 (2-0).

Record-breaking Burnley will have their defensive prowess tested in a Lancashire derby at Preston North End on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

The Clarets became the first team in second tier history to keep 10 straight clean sheets when they overcame Hull City 2-0 on Wednesday and have not conceded a league goal in 910 minutes dating back to 21 December.

Scott Parker's side are third, three points adrift of Sheffield United in the second automatic promotion place while Paul Heckingbottom's Lilywhites lie 15th, though only seven points shy of the play-off places.

These sides will also lock-horns in the FA Cup fifth round in a fortnight's time.

• Preston are winless in their past four league games against Burnley (D2 L2); they haven't endured a longer league run without a win against them since March 1979 (8 games).

• Burnley are unbeaten on each of their past three trips to Preston in the league (W2 D1), after losing six of their prior seven league visits to Deepdale (D1 L6).

• Preston are unbeaten at Deepdale in their previous eight league games (W3 D5); it's their longest run since November 2019 (11 games).

• Burnley have kept eight clean sheets in their last nine away league games, including each of their last five (W6 D3); since the rebrand in 2004-05, only Bournemouth in October 2021 (7) and Stoke in December 2020 (6) have enjoyed a longer run of successive away clean sheets in the Championship.

• Burnley's Zian Flemming has scored five goals in his past six away Championship games, while he's scored six goals in five Championship games against Preston.