Graham Alexander walked back through the Deepdale gates last weekend carrying fourteen years of supporters' goodwill and a table position that leaves no room for sentiment. Preston sit just one goal off the foot of the Championship, separated from the bottom spot on goal difference alone after collecting a single win from their opening fixtures. This weekend, the revival starts in earnest.

Alexander's homecoming fixture

Alexander made 410 appearances for Preston as a player and captained the club before retiring in 2012. His appointment on 28 September came with the Lilywhites in genuine peril, and the international break has given him a fortnight to install his ideas without the pressure of a midweek fixture demanding immediate results.

The opponent for his first home league game is Millwall, a side with no cause to ease Preston into the new era. For Alexander's Preston, the message is clear: the goodwill of the crowd will translate into points only if the performance on the pitch matches the emotion in the stands. One win from the opening weeks of the season means the margin for another slow start is gone.

Preston's squad showed enough in patches earlier in the campaign to suggest the talent is present. What Alexander must provide is structure and belief, and his first full week on the training ground will have been spent doing exactly that. The identity of his teams in previous management roles centred on defensive solidarity; if that foundation appears at Deepdale this weekend, Preston's supporters will take it as genuine progress.

West Brom look to restore pride against Birmingham

Thirty miles south, The Hawthorns hosts a West Midlands derby that arrives at a pointed moment for West Bromwich Albion. Defender Conor Townsend has already described their 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers before the break as the worst performance of the season, a frank assessment that lands all the harder because the team now face another local rival within days of that verdict.

Birmingham City arrive at The Hawthorns on Saturday lunchtime sitting three points below Albion in the table. Victory for Blues would allow them to leapfrog their hosts, which makes the stakes on both sides uncomfortably concrete. Albion cannot afford the narrative of being used as a stepping stone by their West Midlands neighbours in consecutive derby weekends.

Last season's two Championship meetings between these clubs each finished level, with just one goal apiece, so a tight and combative afternoon is the likely template. West Brom will be desperate to demonstrate that the Wolves defeat was an aberration rather than a pattern. Birmingham, meanwhile, have dropped points from winning positions at home this season and will be determined to convert pressure into a result on the road.

The Hawthorns crowd will expect a response. Whether Albion's players can deliver one against a Blues side that carries a genuine promotion threat of its own is the defining question of the fixture.

What the weekend means for the table

West Brom sit fifth at the break, three points clear of Birmingham in tenth. A Birmingham win compresses that gap to nothing and reshuffles the upper-middle of the table; a West Brom victory cements their play-off position and adds psychological damage to a derby rival attempting to build momentum.

For Preston, any points would represent a shift in the mood around the club. The bottom of the Championship is congested enough that a single win can lift a side from danger to mid-table comfort within a few fixtures. Alexander knows the division from his playing career at Deepdale and from his subsequent management experience. He understands that the window to stabilise is short.

Two Championship clubs, two different pressures, the same basic requirement: three points before the week is out.

Frequently asked

When is Graham Alexander's first home game as Preston manager?
Alexander takes charge of his first home league game as Preston manager this weekend, with the Lilywhites hosting Millwall at Deepdale.
Where are Preston in the Championship table?
Preston are just above the bottom spot on goal difference only, having managed a single win from their opening Championship fixtures this season.
What is West Brom's position in the Championship ahead of the Birmingham derby?
West Brom sit fifth in the Championship table, three points above Birmingham City in tenth, going into Saturday's lunchtime derby at The Hawthorns.