After a last gasp defeat at the hands of Leeds United, Peterborough United will looking to get back on a winning run of games.
This weekend sees Posh travel to Watford for a 3pm kick-off in the nPower Championship in what will be Watfords Family Day.
Posh have sold out their entire ticket allocation of nearly 2,100. The Posh fans will be providing a vociferous backing as Posh look to get back to winning ways and hopefully condemn The Hornets to a fifth defeat in a row.
Watford were unfortunate in their last match against Hull City as they lost by the odd goal in a five goal shoot-out.
TEAM NEWS
Posh
Lee Tomlin starts the first of a three match suspension following his petulant sending off against Leeds United while boss Darren Ferguson has suggested he may ‘freshen up’ his side for the clash with The Hornets.
Following impressive performances when coming on as a substitute in the last two matches, Paul Taylor is expected to make a start in place of Tomlin. Ryan Tunnicliffe is also hoping to make a starting berth following impressive substitute performances as well.
Watford
Loanee Chris Iwelumo is expected to start after scoring in the defeat to Hull while Watford are waiting on the fitness of on-loan winger Michael Kightley.
Watford could include new striker Craig Beattie and Sunderland loanee defender Nyron Nosworthy in their matchday squad.
POSH QUOTES
“Watford have been very unlucky in the last couple of games not to take any points. I watched them myself at Leicester and they played okay that day. They will try and get balls into our box on regular occasions so we are going to have to defend well, but also when we have the ball we will need to keep it.” Ferguson said.
“They have a massive aerial threat in Chris Iwelumo and they`ve now brought in Craig Beattie who`s a big lad as well. I expect them to get the ball forward quickly and to deliver plenty of crosses into the box so we will have to deal with that and make sure that we keep possession when we have the ball.
“Our formation can be risky as far as defending is concerned, but I believe we can still play in an attractive way and keep clean sheets.”
“It is annoying that we work on our defending as a team and then within four minutes last week we fell a goal behind, but generally our back four have been defending well.”
MATCH FACTS & STATS
Posh
Posh sit comfortably in 11th place with 19 points from 13 games.
The last 6 games have seen Posh win three and lose three games.
Of the 6 away League games played this season, Posh have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 3 scoring 8 goals on their travels and conceding 10.
Watford
Watford have endured a poor start to the season and are sitting in the relegation zone in 22nd place.
They have only won once in their last 6 games while being consigned to five defeats which included four games without a goal!
The Hornets have played 6 home League games this season winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 4 scoring just 4 goals in these games while conceding 11 goals.
LAST TIME
The last time Posh were in The Championship during the 2009/10 season, Posh did the double over Watford beating them 2-1 at home while winning by a stunning 30-yard solo strike by Liam Dickinson in the away fixture.
PROBABLE TEAMS
Watford: Loach; Nosworthy, Mariappa, Mirfin, Dickinson; Yeates, Eustace (c), Hogg, Deeney; Iwelumo & Sordell.
Peterborough United: Jones; Little, Bennett, Zakuani, Alcock; Tunnicliffe, McCann (c), Rowe, Boyd; Taylor & Sinclair.
REF WATCH
Mr Andy D’Urso takes charge of Saturdays match between Watford and Posh.
The last time he officiated a Watford game was on New Years Day this year when he oversaw The Hornets beat Portsmouth 3-0. He issued 2 yellow cards whilst sending off Pompeys Halford in the 90th minute.
It was even longer ago that D`Urso took charge of a Posh game. This was in September 2010 when Posh beat bitter rivals MK Dons 2-1 thanks to goals by the MacAttack. Posh received 3 yellows cards in that game with McCann, Matt Gill and Lee Tomlin receiving the cautions.
The Assistant Referees are Mr N Lugg and Mr G Muge with the 4th Official being Mr R Atkin.
PREDICTIONS
Despite their poor form, Watford came close to causing an upset in their last match away at Hull. They will be desperate to stop the run of defeats and with the addition of some good loanees could stop the rot.
Posh on the otherhand will be keen to get back to winning ways following their narrow defeat to Leeds United.
Posh should expect an aerial bombardment which they are not always comfortable dealing with so it could be another entertaining, high scoring game!
I think this game could see a 5 goal thriller with Posh just nicking it by the odd goal:
Watford 2 – 3 Posh
NEXT FIXTURES
Posh
Tue 1 Nov 19:45 (a) Southampton
Sat 5 Nov 15:00 (h) Derby County
Watford
Tue 1 Nov 19:45 (h) Brighton & Hove Albion
Sat 5 Nov 15:00 (a) Middlesbrough
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