Preston North End face anxious wait on former Sheffield United man ahead of Bramall Lane visit
Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom is having to deal with a handful of injury concerns ahead of the trip to Bramall Lane this weekend.
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has refused to rule former Sheffield United midfielder Ben Whiteman out of their trip to Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon.
Whiteman, who spent four years with the Blades before moving to Doncaster Rovers in 2018, was, as expected, absent for North End’s 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City on Wednesday evening after being forced off in their 2-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.
The North End captain was substituted just 13 minutes into the defeat to the Baggies at Deepdale because of a hip problem. The trip to Birmingham marked the first game he had missed since serving a one-match ban for amassing five yellow cards back in November.
Refusing to rule him out of the trip to his former club, Heckingbottom has said all he can do is wait and see if Whiteman responds to a steroid injection he has been given.
As quoted by the Lancashire Post, Heckingbottom said: “We'll see how Ben's responded to an injection. He's had a steroid injection to help get the inflammation down.”
Whiteman, 29, has been a key figure for North End this season, featuring in 42 of their first 44 Championship matches. The skipper has also chipped in with two goals and five assists from midfield.
Meanwhile, former Sheffield Wednesday loanee Lewis Gibson was a notable absentee for North End’s trip to Birmingham. Despite travelling to St Andrew’s with the rest of his teammates, he was unable to take part in the matchday squad due to an unspecified complaint, meaning it remains to be seen if he will be available for the clash with the Blades.
“Gibbo travelled down and was going to be involved today,” Heckingbottom continued. “He just felt a little bit tight yesterday in training and then when we went out this morning, I could tell he wasn't comfortable.
“So, we're not going to take the risk. It's pointless having him on the bench if at some point he's needed, and I'm looking around, knowing I can't put him on. It's just creating a problem, so we didn't use him.”
Meanwhile, Heckingbottom has confirmed the trip to Bramall Lane will come too soon for midfielder Ali McCann, who suffered an ankle injury last month, to be involved.
“Yeah, I think he had a little setback in terms of when he tried to step it up,” Heckingbottom added. “He's gone back a couple of days, but I'd still love to get him back, get him involved next week. Ali I'm less bothered about, because I know Northern Ireland will have a camp later, so it's not like he's not going to play again until pre-season.”