Peterborough vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 20 November 2017 By Jim Bonner

Pompey travel to London Road tomorrow evening looking for a fourth straight win which would go a long way in declaring themselves serious contenders for promotion.

Team News

Kenny Jackett may well select another unchanged side following Saturday's win over Southend but Matty Kennedy, Nathan Thompson and Stuart O'Keefe will be hoping for recalls to the starting eleven.

Defender Liam Shephard will be missing for the hosts due to a groin strain.

The Match

Tomorrow's game is a huge test of Pompey's possible promotion credentials as any good League One side will take advantage of Posh's erratic form, which has seen them win just one of their past eight league games, although that was against surprise league leaders Shrewsbury.

Tuesday nights haven't been kind to Portsmouth in general when it comes to away games and thus, failure to beat Peterborough will have fans claiming that the same old predictable Pompey won't be able to achieve anything this season.

That's not to say that tomorrow's game is going to be easy as Peterborough are capable of scoring plenty of goals, with their main threats being striker Jack Marriott and attacking midfielder Marcus Maddison.

It'll be interesting to see what team Jackett selects now his men are in good form. Whilst he may opt for an unchanged team, there's a feeling that Kennedy will get the nod over Kyle Bennett after his second half showing on Saturday. Thompson and O'Keefe are probably going to have to wait.

Three points tomorrow will likely have a significantly higher number of Pompey fans believing that their side could mount a challenge for the play-offs, after all.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Peterborough

GK: Connor O'MALLEY

RWB: Leo DA SILVA LOPES

CB: Ryan TAFAZOLLI

CB: Jack BALDWIN

CB: Steven TAYLOR

LWB: Andy HUGHES

CM: Anthony GRANT

CM: Marcus MADDISON

CM: Jermaine ANDERSON

CF: Jack MARRIOTT

CF: Idris KANU

Pompey

GK: Luke McGEE

RB: Gareth EVANS

CB: Christian BURGESS

CB: Ollie HAWKINS

LB: Matt CLARKE

DM: Danny ROSE

DM: Ben CLOSE

RM: Jamal LOWE

AM: Kal NAISMITH

LM: Matty KENNEDY

CF: Brett PITMAN

Last Time: Peterborough United 0 Portsmouth 3 (Championship - 28/01/2012)

Michael Appleton's men played the perfect counter-attacking game to put Posh to the sword with Erik Huseklepp bagging a brace either side of a header from Jason Pearce. Kelvin Etuhu looked like a star in that match, with nothing to suggest the problems to come during the latter stage of the season.

My Prediction

I have a bad feeling about this game for some reason. Pitman may score again but it's that "Tuesday night disappointment" feeling that I simply can't shake. I hope I'm proved wrong!

Peterborough United 2 Portsmouth 1