It`s the final day of the season and there`s everything to play for.
Crystal Palace -Vs- Peterborough United
Venue: Selhurst Park
Date: 4th May, 2013
Kick-off: 12:45pm
There couldn`t be more riding on this match for both sides. Crystal Palace are hoping to remain in the play-off places which will keep their hopes of a £60 million jackpot should they reach the Premier League. Posh, on the other hand, stand to lose £5 million if results go against them and they get relegated to League One.
Posh fought out a battling win over Sheffield Wednesday in last weekend`s live televised match at London Road thanks to a quality Grant McCann free-kick. That result meant the fate of Posh is still in their own hands and they know that should they win today, they will remain in the Championship for a record third consecutive season.
Mathematically, six teams could end up in the final two relegation places! Wolves are favourites to be one of the teams as they are currently three points from safety and they face a daunting trip to in-form Brighton. Barnsley are level on points with Posh but have an inferior goal difference. The Tykes face a trip to Huddersfield who, although they are four places outside the relegation places, could still drop into the relegation zone should they lose. The other two teams involved in the relegation dog-fight are Millwall who travel to Derby while Sheffield Wednesday host out-of-sorts Middlesbrough.
Palace currently occupy fifth place in the Championship and anything other than a win would mean they are looking at the results of both Nottingham Forest and Bolton Wanderers. Forest and Wanderers are both two points behind Palace but Palace have a better goal difference than the chasing duo.
Bolton host Blackpool while Forest host Leicester City who themselves could sneak into the final play-off place should they beat Forest and Bolton fail to beat Blackpool!
The reverse fixture in November saw Posh take a sixth minute lead through Grant McCann before two goals in the final 10 minutes turned the match around in Palace`s favour.
FORM GUIDE
The Eagles have drawn their last three matches but you have to go back ten matches for their last win which was against promotion chasing Hull City. They won that match 4-2 at Selhurst Park and it is their home form which has catapulted the London side into the play-offs.
They have won 12 matches on home soil, drawing eight matches while only losing twice!
Posh have shown promotion form in the second half of the season and have lost just once in their last twelve matches. That defeat came in their last away match at Derby County when a very disappointing performance combined with an outstanding Derby display ended in the match finishing 3-1to the Rams.
Posh`s last five away matches have seen them win one, draw three and lose one match. Their away record this season has seen them win on seven occasions, drawing four matches and losing eleven times. Seven of these defeats all came in the first part of the season.
TEAM NEWS
Crystal Palace
Owen Garvan made his first start in four months last week and his fitness will be checked to ensure there has been no ill-effects. He is expected to start again for Ian Holloways side.
Holloway will be missing the defensive pair of Jonathan Parr (ankle) and Paddy McCarthy (groin) through injuries but there are no reports of any further injuries to his players.
Wilfried Zaha [pictured below] will be playing his last Championship League match for Palace as he is set to join up with Manchester United in the summer after signing for them in January.
Peterborough United
Posh boss Darren Ferguson was boosted by the news that Mark Little [pictured below] has overcome his hamstring injury and is available for the last match of the season. Little`s forward runs have been missed since he has been out but the squad assembled by Ferguson has coped well without him.
Ferguson sprung a surprise change to his formation in the last match against Sheffield Wednesday which saw the side revert to a 4-4-2 formation with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and young loanee Alex Pritchard playing on the wing.
There will be disappointed players today but hopefully that is only because they have been left out of the team. Youngster Peter Grant, who has been out injured all season, is the only senior player out through injury as Fergie looks to make his final team selection of the season.
Vital Posh predicts the starting line-up will be:
Olejnik
Bostwick, Zakuani, Rowe
Little, Payne, McCann, Newell
Swanson
Tomlin, Gayle
HOTSHOTS
Eagles
30 – Murray
6 – Zaha
5 – Dikgacoi
Posh
13 – Dwight Gayle
12 – Lee Tomlin
8 – Grant McCann
REFEREE
Craig Pawson takes charge of his 3rd Posh match of the season.
To find out details of how he has performed this season, click HERE.
He will be assisted by Mathew Buonissisi and Daniel Cook.
The fourth official is Gavin Ward.
PREDICTION
How on earth are we expected to predict this one? We know Posh need to win to ensure they don`t have to look at other results but they also know defeat could also mean safety!!
Palace have a very impressive record at home and they will want to ensure they finish their home League season on a high?hopefully that is a defeat but in the knowledge they are in the play-offs.
It should be a very tense affair with not much between the two teams and it could end up with another goalless draw!
Posh to draw: 0 – 0.
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@VitalPosh
UP THE POSH
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