After an enforced break, Peterborough United are back in League action against Burnley.
Peterborough United -Vs- Burnley
Venue: London Road
Date: 2nd February, 2013
Kick-off: 3pm
Posh had last weekend off after their match against Bolton Wanderers was cancelled due to the Trotters involvement in the FA Cup. It turned out to be a disappointing weekend after all the teams around Posh all picked up points or picked up points during the week. Posh now find themselves back at the bottom of the Championship, six points from safety, and see their home games as vital matches in their fight for survival.
Burnley are two places and five points outside the play-offs and are desperate for the points to help them edge towards the play-offs.
Posh had an encouraging result in their last match as they came from a goal down to Hull City to draw 1-1. That draw was the first home draw this season.
Burnley were on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline last weekend as they lost to lowly Birmingham City. Their last away match saw them comfortably beat Millwall thanks to goals from the dangerous strike pairing of Sam Vokes and Danny Ings.
Burnley have won three and lost two of their last five matches while Posh have won two, lost two and drawn one of their last five League matches.
There have only been 19 League encounters between these two sides with Posh winning eight of them compared to Burnleys five.
Burnley had a comfortable win over Posh at the start of the season as they eased to a 5-2 win during Posh`s disastrous start to the season. However Posh were unbeaten against the Clarets last season as they took four out of the six points last season.
TEAM NEWS
Peterborough United
Posh boss Darren Ferguson will have a virtually full squad to choose from after the return from suspension of Lee Tomlin and, fresh from the Africa Cup of Nations, Gaby Zakuani.
His squad has also been bolstered with the arrival of midfielders Jack Payne from Gillingham and Alex Pritchard from Tottenham Hotspur.
Fergie will need to run the rule over George Boyd after his proposed transfer to Nottingham Forest fell through in the final hours of transfer deadline day because he didn`t have perfect eyesight! Will Boyd be in the right frame of mind to concentrate on such an important match?
Jack Payne is expected to step straight into the starting line-up while Tomlin [pictured below] should once again partner Dwight Gayle up front while Davide Petrucci is expected to drop down to the bench.
Newcomer Alex Pritchard is also expected to take his place amongst the substitutes with one of Kane Ferdinand, Danny Swanson or Nathaniel Mendez-Laing expected to miss out altogether.
Vital Posh predicts the starting line-up will be:
Olejnik
Bostwick, Zakuani, Wootton
Little, Payne, Newell, Rowe
Boyd
Tomlin, Gayle
Burnley
Burnley could welcome back their leading goal scorer Charlie Austin. The 23-goal striker has recovered from a hamstring strain but will be hard pushed to dislodge Vokes and Ings who have formed a good partnership.
Defender Dean Marney is also available after having the red card he picked up against Birmingham City last week rescinded.
HOTSHOTS
Peterborough United
8 – Lee Tomlin
7 – Dwight Gayle
6 – George Boyd
4 – Michael Bostwick
Burnley
23 – Austin
4 – McCann
4 – Paterson
REFEREE
ANDY D`URSO takes charge of this match. To find out more details of the referee, click HERE.
He will be assisted by Darren Blunden and Nicholas Kinseley.
The fourth official is Stephen Ross.
PREDICTION
Posh will be desperate to move off the bottom of the Championship but it will require a mammoth task. Facing a team chasing the play-offs and who are on a good run, Posh will need to dig deep to get the three points.
The fans need to get behind the team from start to finish, not only in this match, but in every match remaining this season. If Posh are going to survive and be in the Championship for the third season running, they need to start winning matches and tomorrow is the first of those games that they will be looking to win.
With the recent additions to the squad, Posh now have a competitive squad, especially in midfield, so it is vital that whoever is chosen to pull on the blue shirt of Posh puts every ounce of effort in. If that happens and we get a few lucky breaks we could come away with three precious points.
Posh to sneak a win: 1 – 0.
UP THE POSH Follow me on Twitter: @mwl1967
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Photos/images courtesy of www.theposhpics.com.
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