Davies to face former club

Andrew Davies looks set to face former club Southampton after joining Preston North End on a one month emergency loan from Stoke City.

The former fan's favourite left Saints to join Tony Pulis's Premier League side for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £1.2m, in August.

Davies has struggled to make an impact at Stoke, having made just 3 appearances for The Potters, although he has been blighted by a series of injuries.

Now fully fit, Davies is in need of some first team football in order to improve his match fitness, and Stoke were more than happy to let the former England U21 international leave on loan.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis said, "He desperately needs games, particularly competitive matches, and that's why we've been so keen to let him go out."

Saints' relegation rivals Norwich City were thought to be leading the chase for Davies, but the 24-year-old opted for a move to Preston instead.

Davies explained his decision. "Norwich asked me to go for the rest of the season - but it's quite some distance away from Stoke.

"Now I'm here at Preston and looking forward to getting three points.

"I've been at Stoke for six months, but I have been injured so I asked the manager if I could go out and get some football.

"I've had a few loan moves, I like to play football - I don't like sitting around watching people play - I find football's a short career so you want to play as many games as you can."

Davies is in line to make his Preston debut this weekend, ironically against former suitors Norwich.

Saints are set to face Preston on February 21st, and providing Davies stays injury-free, it looks as though the defender will face his former employers at St Mary's.

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