Preston North End man makes Championship admission ahead of Sheffield Wednesday trip

Preston North End midfielder Ryan Ledson has no doubts the Championship is the toughest it’s ever been.

But the former Everton ace sees no reason why the ambitious Lilywhites can’t finally secure a covered play-off place this season.

A gutsy draw away to Bristol City on opening day and an impressive 2-1 at home to Sunderland as rightly given Ledson and his teammates grounds for optimism.

But with Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton relegated from the Premier League last season, 25-year-old Ledson expects the Lancashire club to be tested to their limits this term.

“It doesn’t get any easier with the teams in the league this year,” admitted Ledson.

“I think this is one of the toughest years that I’ve been at Preston. It’s my sixth year here now and I think the first two or three years were tough, but last year possibly wasn’t as tough.

“You feel like you look at the league now and they might be 17th in the league and you think ‘these are all right here’. You’ve played against them for years and they’re a good side. I think this league is brutal really and you have to be bang at it every year.”

The Lilywhites face newly-promoted Sheffield Wednesday away on Saturday – and Ledson is understandably expecting another battle.

“I’m expecting a tough game, it always is away at Hillsborough,” admitted Ledson.

“They’ve lost their first two, but that means nothing. They’ll be looking for a reaction, especially at home. I watched them a bit last year, they were always on the telly in League One, and they’ve got a Championship squad. It’s going to be another real tough Championship game.

“But we’ve had a decent start. I’d say so, yeah. I thought we were unlucky not to get three points at Bristol City as well, obviously it was nice to get three points at home against Sunderland.” Asked whether the club can push on this season and try and emulate a club like Luton, who shocked many with their Premier League promotion, Ledson replied: “Why not? I thought we had a good season last season, maybe we fell off a little bit towards the end. We were in and around the play-offs and that’s where we want to be.

“We know the league’s a lot harder this year, but with the start we’ve had hopefully we can get more points heading into the first international break, we’re going to get players back, so we are optimistic.

“I think it’s obvious that the league’s a lot tougher this year. Leicester have spent must be close to £30million. Harry Winks for £10million, he’s a Premier League player.

“Southampton have got a squad, the likes of [James] Ward-Prowse £30million and [Romeo] Lavia £60million have just been sold for big money. It’s a lot harder this year.

“But we’ve just got to be us and be hard to play against and hopefully pick up results. I think it’s just consistency, really. You don’t forget it’s a long season, there are 46 games in a season.

“You just need to put runs together. Maybe it’s those tough Tuesday nights where you pick up a point from home and think ‘that will be a good point in the end’. It’s hard, it’s really hard. It’s a tough league, but we all know that.”