'Cam who?' - Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe responds to reunion with Aston Villa loanee Cameron Archer ahead of Middlesbrough trip

PNE tried to sign the Aston Villa man in January after he scored seven times from January onwards on loan at Deepdale last season. Archer instead chose a move to the North East to join Middlesbrough, prompting Preston to sign Tom Cannon on loan from Everton instead.

Lowe is not getting carried away with seeing the 21-year-old again and is at peace with the fleeting nature of his time at the club.

“Cam who? Truth be known, we wish him all the best and I spoke to him when he went to go to Middlesbrough, told him good luck and that's it,” he said. “It's football, players come and go.

"We've got a new player on our hands who we've managed to get on loan who is doing well for us and scoring goals. It doesn't matter who it is.

"You can't fall in loan with these loan players when you get them because ultimately they're not ours. Cam did great for us and we wished him all the best but it's not about Cameron Archer on Saturday, it's about Preston North End and Middlesbrough going head to head to try and get three points and that's what we'll be looking to do.”

Michael Carrick’s Boro have been one of the form sides in the division of late, and since they last played PNE.

Carrick’s first game in charge of his boyhood club was at Deepdale and although his side took the lead, it ended in a 2-1 defeat. Since then, no side in the Championship has taken more points than Boro – who are looking to force their way into the top two before the end of the campaign.

Lowe’s focus however has been in house, and although this game will be important to the Teesside club to show how far they have come, it’s just another game for the PNE boss.

He said: “I've had no time to monitor Michael Carrick and Middlesbrough, it's only been the past week or so once the Rotherham game has gone. We have an eye on them of course and the work is done by the analysts.

"You see the results coming in but it's only this week that we've really nailed it down and looked at them, that's what we do, we take each week as it comes. We don't move any faster than that, you have one eye on it and one eye on the results.

"He's a good manager, he's obviously got good players, it's a good football club and he's been well backed. That's a plus in itself in what they're trying to do and it's no coincidence in where they are in the league.

"The fact of the matter is I don't worry about any other team or any other manager, I see what they're doing and their progress and it's a challenge as a manager and a club when you come up against them, but that's it really. After Saturday it will move onto the next one.”