Peterborough United go looking for their first points of the season as they entertain last seasons Premiership outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Peterborough United -Vs- Wolverhampton Wanderers
Venue: London Road
Date: 22nd September, 2012
Kick-off: 3pm
Darren Ferguson is desperate for his Posh team to start picking up points in the Championship, but it doesn`t get any easier with Wolves visiting London Road for the first time since the 1993/1994 season.
In fact, Posh and Wolves have only ever played each other on eight occasions with Wolves having won half those matches with Posh winning two of them. Posh have never won at home against Wolves!!
Since their last meeting, the fortunes of both sides have been completely different but history counts for nothing as they both find themselves in the same league again.
TEAM NEWS
Peterborough United
For the first time in a very long time, Darren Ferguson had a full squad fit and training together. Tommy Rowe returned to training on Thursday having been out injured since picking up a nasty shoulder injury during pre-season. He is unlikely to feature in this weekends game as he needs to regain his fitness.
Midfielder Danny Swanson [pictured below] has recovered from the thigh injury that ruled him out of the last two Posh matches and he could come in to replace the out-of-form George Boyd.
Fellow midfielder Danny Kearns looks like missing out again as Fergie believes he would find it more beneficial to go out on loan to gain match fitness.
Fergie may re-introduce the midfield diamond as he looks to stop the run of 6 League defeats which will mean he has a tough choice between the more defensive Michael Bostwick or the creative Grant McCann at the base of the diamond.
Former Wolves player Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who had an impressive debut against Burnley last weekend and a decent outing against Bristol City on Tuesday, could find himself up front partnering Tyrone Barnett.
Vital Posh predicts the starting line-up will be:
Olejnik
Little, Zakuani, Knight-Percival, Ntlhe
McCann
Frecklington Newell
Swanson
Mendez-Laing, Barnett
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves boss Stale Solbakken has been rotating his players this season which means the likes of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Tongo Doumbia and Slawomir Peszko could all return to the starting line-up.
Goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey will still be missing with a knee injury and is not expected to return until the end of October.
Should Kevin Doyle play, it will be his 100th game for Wolves.
Wolves won their first away game of the season on Tuesday night as they defeated Ipswich Town 2-0. It was a match that also saw ex-Posh forward Paul Taylor break a bone in his foot which may require surgery!
HOTSHOTS
Peterborough United
4 – Lee Tomlin
2 – George Boyd
2 – Paul Taylor
Wolverhampton Wanderers
3 – Ebanks-Blake
2 – Bakary Sako
1 – 7 players
REFEREE
Tyne and Wear based referee ANDY HAINES takes charge of this clash. He has issued eight yellow cards and no red cards in his four matches he has taken charge of so far this season. It is his first Championship outing this season having officiated in two League Two matches, one League One and a Capital One Cup match!
The last time he refereed a Posh match was in March. Posh lost 1-0 away at Barnsley whil Haines issued 6 yellow cards, three cards to each side, while sending off Barnsley`s Nathan Doyle in the 32nd minute of the game. It will be the first time he has refereed Wolves.
He will be assisted by David Rock and Ryan T Atkin.
The fourth official is Wayne Porter.
PREDICTION
With Wolves starting to find their feet in the Championship, they will be desperate to keep their winning run going and make it three wins in a row and back to back away wins.
Posh on the other hand will be desperate to avoid a seventh straight league defeat and being out of form and low on confidence, many players will be nervous going into this match.
The match could be closer than many people think though but we can only see one outcome, another defeat for Posh!
Vital Posh predicts a nervy but close defeat for Posh: 1 – 2.
DON’T FORGET VITAL POSH WILL BE TWEETING LIVE FROM THE MATCH.
FOLLOW US @vitalposh
UP THE POSH Follow me on Twitter: @mwl1967
Photos/images courtesy of www.theposhpics.com and www.football-league.co.uk.
Join Vital Peterborough United!
With news and views, along with a forum, polls and article comments, everything you need in a fans site is right here!
Vital Posh is 100% interactive. Not only can you have your say on the articles and the forum but you can also suggest an article or a poll so you can air your views.
So why not join Vital Posh today?
It’s easy to REGISTER HERE. Simply click the link and enjoy getting involved!.
Message Board
To visit the message board, click here.
Get involved
This website is your website and we are looking for people to help run the site. Do you go to most of the games and have an opinion? Why not write a match report? Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital Posh at peterborough@vitalfootball.co.uk .
Vital Peterborough is also on:
