The Championship Surprise Package That Has Been the Story of the EFL This Season

Preston North End: The 2025/26 Story of the Championship Campaign?

Preston North End are undoubtedly one of England’s most historic football clubs. Formed 145 years ago in 1880 and have played at their Deepdale Stadium that entire history. Making the ground one of the oldest continuously used stadiums in the world. The club are also founding members of the football league and were the first team in England to go ‘Invincible’, winning the first division title unbeaten in 1889.

However, despite that proud history, Preston have not played top-flight football in over 60 years, with their last season in the top tier of the English pyramid being the 1960-61 campaign. Since securing promotion to the Championship in 2015, the club have been regular mid-table finishers, securing an average league position of 11.5 over the last ten seasons.

The closest Preston came to reaching the playoffs was in the 2017-18 season, where they narrowly missed out in 7th place, and last season saw the club just survive in the division. Securing safety by a single point on the final day to finish 20th.

However, despite their somewhat uninspiring recent history, that may be changing this season, as after the first 21 games of the 2025/26 Championship campaign, the Lilywhites find themselves 3rd in the table under manager Paul Heckingbottom, have lost four matches so far and are unbeaten in their last five.

Following Saturday's 2-1 win over Oxford United, Preston North End have amassed 35 points from their opening 21 matches this season. 👏

By contrast, they needed their first 29 matches (January 25) to get 35 points on the board last term. 👀

𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈! 🙌#PNEFC pic.twitter.com/PDP7rAxc7g

— The Championship Chat Podcast (@Champchatpod24) December 16, 2025

The key to their success so far this season is their defence, they may not have a massive amount of clean sheets – five in 21 – but Heckingbottom’s side have only conceded 22 goals so far, the joint second best with only Stoke City (20) conceding less. Defender Liam Lindsay has made the most clearances per 90 in the whole division, averaging 10.3 per match.

Preston’s form so far this season is even more surprising conceding how the club ended the last campaign. The Lilywhites last win of the 24/25 season came in a 2-1 home victory over Portsmouth on March 15th. With their last five games seeing four defeats in a row, including at home to soon-to-be relegated Plymouth on the penultimate day, before a 2-2 draw at Ashton Gate vs Bristol City was enough to keep North End in the Championship for an 11th consecutive season.

A solid start to the season. ⛔#pnefc pic.twitter.com/vqpC9UUuxL

— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) December 17, 2025

Putting the poor run of results at the end of the 24/25 season behind them, Preston started the new Championship campaign in strong form, winning two and drawing one of the first three fixtures. With the two victories coming in notable style vs two newly relegated teams from the Premier League in Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

The win vs Ipswich in particular was an impressive showing of character and resilience, as Preston had only three shots throughout the match compared to Ipswich’s 14, whilst only having 28% of the ball possession. However, they came out on top 1-0 winners at Deepdale through an 11th-minute penalty from striker Milutin Osamjić.

On November 1st, Preston would beat the third team to join the Championship from the previous Premier League season, beating Southampton 0-2 at St Mary’s Stadium, with on loan winger Lewis Dobbin scoring the opener.

From back to front in 13 seconds. ⚡#pnefc pic.twitter.com/Ymeb8jCZTx

— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) November 1, 2025

Dobbin, signed on loan from Aston Villa in the summer transfer window, has been Preston’s brightest attacking spark so far this season. The 22-year-old has four goals and five assists in 17 appearances for the Lilywhites and is just one of several smart transfers made by manager Paul Heckingbottom during the summer.

Your November POTM is...

Lewis Dobbin!

-6 appearances
-360 minutes played
-2 goals
-3 assists#pnefc https://t.co/1ylgArSZs6 pic.twitter.com/dNIA7ykno1

— Deepdale Daily (@PNEFCcrowds) December 2, 2025

Full-back Thierry Small and goalkeeper Daniel Iversen both arrived on free transfers from Charlton and Leicester City, respectively, with both becoming key figures at the back for Heckingbottom’s side. And the loan market has been well used by Preston, with both Dobbin and Alfie Devine arriving from top Premier League clubs to boost Preston’s side.

Since a 3-2 win over Sheffield United on 24th October, Preston have only lost once, a 1-2 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers on 21st November, and are unbeaten since with three draws and two wins versus Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford Utd away from home. With the Lilywhites looking like one of the toughest sides to beat in the division.

A recent 1-1 draw at home to league leaders Coventry City was the latest showing of the mental strength and resilience that has been built up at Deepdale over the last few months. Liam Lindsay saw red in the 39th minute, but it took until the 70th minute for the Sky Blues to take the lead with the player advantage. However, just seven minutes later, Daniel Jebbison equalised for the home side, who earned a point against the side running away at the top of the table.

THIS TEAM FIGHTS FOR EVERYTHING! 😤#pnefc pic.twitter.com/rb1ZOEEdxl

— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) December 9, 2025

The key for Preston over the next weeks is turning draws into wins, as whilst Heckingbottom’s side have been unquestionably tough to beat, three of their last four fixtures have been 1-1 draws. Upcoming fixtures include home ties vs struggling Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday, and the Lilywhites will be looking to keep pace with the likes of Middlesbrough in the automatic promotion race.

There may be a long time to go in the current Championship season, with still 25 more matches to play, and it remains to be seen whether the momentum that Heckingbottom and Preston have built up over the last few months.

Recent history is not on their side, with Preston failing to make the playoff places in the Championship over the last ten seasons. However, North End fans have good reason to believe that a long-awaited promotion push could be on the cards at Deepdale.