Preston NE sit bottom with 5 points after 12 games
1 win, 2 draws and 9 defeats have left Preston NE on 5 points, 6 adrift of Watford in 21th.
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Preston NE are bottom of the Championship after 12 matches, and the table makes ugly reading. 5 points. 1 win. 9 defeats from 12 games.
The gap to safety is 6 points. Watford occupy 21th with 11, which is hardly a towering total itself. That is the part that should worry anyone at the club: the teams above them are not running away.
The goal difference is -15, built on 10 scored and 25 conceded. Only 1 opponents have been beaten all season. The last five league games read D, L, L, L, D, and the current run stands at 1D.
Split the record by venue and the picture barely changes. At home: 3 wins, 3 draws, 10 losses. Away: 3, 4, 10. No ground has offered shelter.
Can a side that has conceded 25 in 12 games really climb out of this? The arithmetic says yes, because 6 points is recoverable in a long season. The form says something else.
Up top, the division's leading scorer is William Lankshear of Middlesbrough with 11, followed by Andri Guðjohnsen on 8 for Blackburn and Cyle Larin with 7 for Southampton. Preston NE have managed 10 as a team. One striker at Cardiff has 6 alone.
At the other end of the table, Middlesbrough lead on 25 with a goal difference of +10, ahead of Swansea on 23 and West Ham on 22. West Ham own the best goal difference in the top six at +17.
The Championship returns on Friday 30 October, when Sheffield Utd meet Wrexham. For the side at the bottom, the margin for error is already gone.