PRESTON warned Adel Taarabt he faces another rough ride at Deepdale today.
The QPR skipper has hit 14 goals this term and been hailed as the Championship's player of the season so far.
But the Moroccan sulked in the leaders' 0-0 draw at Hull last month when the tough-tackling home side gave him a torrid time.
And Preston midfielder Adam Barton admitted: "He likes to get on the ball and do things - but as we saw in the Hull game, if you get stuck into him he won't like it.
"The earlier we do that the better it will be for us. I'm sure every player will want to be in his face.
"He has the quality to be the best player in this league and could maybe play at a higher level.
"But we have to find a way to stop him."
Rock-bottom Preston are still looking for a first win after eight games under Phil Brown.
And the Deepdale boss reckons his side need to win 10 of their last 16 games to have a chance of beating the drop.
But Brown insisted: "There's no half-heartedness about us at the moment. We are going into a 16 game period of cup finals but they are all winnable."