International call ups may work in North End's favour when Huddersfield Town visit Deepdale later this month.
The Capital One Cup First Round sees the Lilywhites take on Simon Grayson's Terriers in the competitive season's curtain raiser on Monday August 13th.
However, the newly promoted Championship team will have to do without their star man Jordan Rhodes as well as a handful of other first-team players due to international commitments.
Rhodes, who was in prolific goal scoring form last term, has been drafted into the full Scotland squad for the Tartan Army's fixture with the Socceroos of Australia two days later.
Others to miss out could be centre-half Murray Wallace and Sean Scannell who have been called up to the Scotland and Republic of Ireland under-21 squads respectively.
Former Manchester United trainee Oliver Norwood is set to join up with the Northern Ireland squad for their fixture with Finland in Belfast as well as Joel Lynch who readies himself for Wales' game against Finland in Cardiff.
Although none of the games are being played on the exact day, those who have been called up with join their fellow international team mates on the Sunday before meaning a trip to Deepdale would be out of the question.
If his fixture were a league game then the Football League would be obliged to postpone the game due to a rule that triggers such an occurrence if three or more players are missing through international duty.
However, said rule does not apply for the League Cup.
This season differs from previous campaigns with the newly sponsored League Cup first round ties taking place before the first league games.
Source: FOOTYMAD
