CHERRIES will come up against a group of Preston players with their manager's furious words ringing in their ears when the teams clash in the EFL Cup tonight.

Lilywhites boss Simon Grayson had planned to make tweaks at Vitality Stadium even prior to watching his team ship four goals in 13 second-half minutes on their way to a 5-0 defeat by Brentford on Saturday.

But Grayson says the weekend's events mean places are now up for grabs in his starting line-up for the clash with Wigan on Friday.

“We now have a game against Bournemouth which is a tough task," said Grayson. "I was going to make changes for that game anyway but the players who come into the team will have the chance to try to stay in it for Wigan."

Preston's defeat to Brentford was their heaviest since they were thumped 5-0 at Wigan in December 2004, leaving Grayson to apologise to the fans who had travelled to watch their team.

Prior to what Grayson described as a "crazy" 15 minutes at Brentford, Preston had won three of their previous five games. They also recorded clean sheets in both of their EFL Cup victories this term.

Grayson was speaking to the Lancashire Evening Post.