Saturday 25th January 1969 – FA Cup 4th Round – PNE 0 Chelsea 0
In the first FA Cup match between the two clubs Preston drew 0-0 in front of 31,875, which was the highest Preston home gate of the season. Preston who was in sixteenth position in Division Two was the underdogs to Division One side Chelsea who were fifth in the division. Preston had reached the fourth round after beating First Division Nottingham Forest 3-0
PNE Team: 1) Kelly; 2) Ross; 3) McNab; 4) Spark; 5) Cranston; 6) Heppolette; 7) Temple; 8) Knighton; 9) Irvine; 10) Ingram; 11) Lee.
Wednesday 29th January 1969 – 4th Round Replay – Chelsea 2 PNE 0 (Match Abandoned)
In front of 44,000 spectators Chelsea was leading 2-0 but with around 15 minutes to go the floodlights failed and the match had to be abandoned.
Monday 3rd February 1969 – 4th Round Replay – Chelsea 2 PNE 1
An attendance of 36,522 saw heartache for the Lilywhites after the reprieve the previous week. Injuries had meant that that McNab, Cranston and Irvine were missing.
PNE took the lead after 15 minutes from a Lee corner which was headed in by Temple to beat Bonetti on his 400th Blues appearance. North End almost doubled the lead on 70 minutes when a Gemmill shot hit the underside of the bar and bounced to safety.
Then on 90 minutes disaster struck Webb scored with support from Osgood and on the 93rd minute Birchenall has a shot going wide but was deflected by Cooke to give the Blues victory. After beating Stoke in the Fifth Round, Chelsea was beaten by West Brom in the Quarter Finals.
PNE Team: 1) Kelly; 2) Ross; 3) Knighton; 4) Spark; 5) Hawkins; 6) Heppolette; 7) Temple; 8) Spavin; 9) Irvine; 10) Ingram; 11) Lee.
Sunday 17th February 2002 – FA Cup 5th Round – Chelsea 3 PNE 1
Following victories over Brighton and Sheffield United, Preston got to play Chelsea for the first time in nearly 21 years. Chelsea was again fifth but now in the Premier League whilst PNE were ninth in Division One.
Preston took the lead again with a goal on 9 minutes in front of 28,133, only for Gudjohnsen to equalise 7 minutes later. Hasselbank gave the Blues the lead on 26 minutes before Forssell wrapped it up on 90 minutes.
Chelsea reached the 2002 FA Cup Final but was beaten by Arsenal 2-0.
PNE Team: 1) Moilanen; 2) Alexander; 3) Edwards; 4) Anderson (sub Healy); 5) Lucketti; 6) Gregan; 7) Cartwight (sub Gudjonsson); 8) Keane; 9) Cresswell; 10) Macken; 11) McKenna.
In total this will be the 37th meeting with the two clubs at Deepdale since the first match in 1907. Preston have won 19; lost 10 and drawn 7. The last match was on 28 February 1981 when Alex Bruce scored the only goal as a sub for Sayer, in the season that North End were relegated to Division Three. Unfortunately the match was overshadowed due to fighting after the match which sadly led to the death of a Chelsea supporter.
The last victory for Chelsea at Deepdale was also in Division Two on 8 December 1963 in a 3-1 victory for the visitors.