Posh Preview
Peterborough United go in search of their first home win of
the season buoyed by back-to-back away wins last week. They will face a stern
test against a Sunderland side heavily fancied by many for automatic promotion.
The corresponding fixture finished 1-1 last season as Posh’s late bid for a
playoff place fell agonisingly short and Posh will be hopeful of forcing
another positive result in front of a bumper crowd on Saturday. Indeed manager
Darren Ferguson was in confident mood when asked how he felt about his sides
chances in the upcoming fixture:
“We’re playing well and we’ve won
back-to-back away games without conceding a goal.
“I
don’t think this group would ever be complacent, but the fact we are playing
the biggest club in League One and that it will be another fantastic atmosphere
at our place ensures there will no over confidence.
“I’m glad we are playing
Sunderland now. We know we will have to produce or absolute best to win the
game, but we will be confident of just doing that. It was a fantastic occasion
when we played them towards the end of last season because both sets of fans
really got involved.
“I don’t see any reason why it
won’t be just the same on Saturday. We are looking forward to it and I suspect
Sunderland will be as well.
“They will be strong, probably
even stronger than last season when they lost in the play-off final.
“They’ve
recruited well and improved in some areas. They are rightly favourites to win
the league because of their history and support.
“They have plenty of quality and
some dangerous players, but then so do we, so it should be a great game.”
Sunderland can expect plenty of support from their loud and passionate travelling fan base and are well on their way to filling their 3,858 ticket allocation for the match. Speaking midweek Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony attempted to inject a little extra spice into the fixture by claiming that Sunderland turned down the chance to sign Peterborough’s star playmaker Marcus Maddison in the summer. In response to the reports Sunderland boss Jack Ross resisted the temptation to further stoke the fire stating:
“It’s something that I wouldn’t comment on.
“I do
try and be fairly transparent in my communication but equally we spend a lot of
time looking at a lot of players over a long period of time.
“We
build up a portfolio, if you like, of players that we believe would be a good
fit in certain circumstances.
“To comment on each and every one of them that is reported via social
media – I would be here an awful long time.”
Ross was more forthcoming when later asked about the threat he expected Peterborough to pose on his
Sunderland side:
“They’ve kept two clean sheets recently and they’ve also scored
goals too. In the final third they pose a real attacking threat and are as good
as anyone in the league in that sense.
“So we’re going to have to defend properly and well
throughout the course of the game, but we’ve got this terrific record of
scoring goals in all but one of the league games since I’ve been here. We
always back ourselves to create and score. So we go in believing in ourselves,
but also understanding the threat that they pose means we have to defend well
as a team throughout.
“They started the season really well last year and then fell
away a little bit.
“When you look at the players they still have in
their squad and also the players they’ve recruited over the summer, it’s clear
they still have ambitions to achieve promotion.
“They had a sticky start but their recent results have been very
good as well. We always knew how difficult August was going to be on paper, to
come through it as well as we have done to date is hugely encouraging and we
obviously just want to finish it off the right way.
“It will make it a really, really good month for us
if we can go there on Saturday and win the game.”
Team News
Darren Ferguson’s men have enjoyed an excellent start to the
season injury wise and have no new injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s fixture.
Posh have been unchanged for their last 3 matches and it is likely Ferguson
will see no reason to make changes to either formation or personal following
back-to-back league wins. One man who will definitely not feature is George
Cooper who secured a midweek loan move to League 2 promotion hopefuls Plymouth
Argyle while Posh will also be monitoring the match fitness of their latest
recruit right back Nathan Thompson.
For Sunderland, Chris Maguire is unlikely to feature having picked
up a knock which kept him out of the midweek victory at Turf Moor while Marc
McNulty has returned to first team training but remains a doubt as he seeks to
prove his match fitness. Sunderland had hoped to have forward Duncan Watmore
back fit however he has suffered a recurrence of the injury which has kept him
out the side in recent weeks and will not feature.
Opposition Report
It is little surprise given the size and stature that
Sunderland are the bookies favourite for the title this season with some bookmakers
pricing Sunderland as low as 5/2 to win the league. This is despite many
grumbles from experts and Sunderland fans alike that last season the side was
over reliant on the individual quality of players in their expensively assembled
squad rather and were unable to regularly produce dominant and cohesive team
performances. It is a pattern which has continued against some of the better
sides in the division this season with Sunderland managing to grind out
positive results against both Portsmouth and Ipswich despite being second best
for large periods in those matches. Last season a lack of clear philosophy and
playing style of play ultimately cost Sunderland, they were organised but slipped
to too many draws (usually 1-1) against opponents they would have expected to beat
before eventually losing 2-1 to Charlton in the Wembley Playoff final.
Despite their shortcomings Sunderland will approach the
fixture full of confidence on the back of an excellent run of results. Following
back to back 1-1 draws to start the campaign Sunderland have recorded five wins
on the bounce in league and cup catapulting them into 4th place in
the League One table as well as into the 3rd round of the Carabao
cup following an impressive 3-1 win away to Premier League Burnley. They are a
squad packed full of quality players and will fancy their chances against any
and all opposition this season.
It was a much changed Sunderland side that won at Burnley on
Wednesday so fatigue should not prove too much of a worry although it will be
interesting to see if any of the fringe players so far this season did enough to
catch Ross’ eye and force their way into Saturday’s starting lineup. It is also
worth noting that news broke recently regarding a potential takeover at the
Stadium of Light and it remains to be seen whether this will provide a welcome boost
or unnecessary distraction to the players on the pitch.
Key Matchups
McGeady v Mason: Posh play a defend with a very narrow
formation when out of possession often lining up with two flat, compact banks
of 3 in front of the back four. This has occasionally left both fullbacks
isolated in recent matches and how right back Niall Mason defends against
Sunderland star man Aiden McGeady down Posh’s right flank could have a huge influence
on the outcome of this match. Mason has looked rash and clumsy when defending
1v1 at times this season and will have to be much improved to stop the talented
McGeady.
Stopping Maddison: Sunderland will be aware that key to
their success in this match will be their ability to contain Peterborough star
man and creator Marcus Maddison. Maddison has looked unplayable for much of
Posh’s last two fixtures in which he has been given freedom to roam already
accumulating 6 assists and 1 goal this season. Sunderland will surely have a
plain in place to stop Maddison inserting his influence on this match and may
opt to man mark him or attempt to cut off his supply line. They will also be
aware he is a player prone to frustration when he has been unable to get into
matches or repeatedly fouled.
Stat Attack
Head-to-Head record: There have only been 9 previous meetings
between the sides with Posh registering 1 win, 2 draws and 6 defeats.
Posh forwards Mo Eisa and Ivan Toney have both found the net
in the last 3 matches and have contributed 8 of the 9 goals Posh have scored so
far this season
Posh have kept back-to-back clean sheets in their last two
matches, a feat they only managed once in the entirety of last season
Sunderland are unbeaten so far this season (W5 D2) despite
conceding exactly one goal in each of their 7 league and cup matches thus far
Sunderland have only failed to score in 1 of the 51 regular season
matches they have played since the start of the 2018/2019 season
Posh Report Opinion
Danger Man: Republic of Ireland winger Aiden Mcgeady has 32 Premier League appearances to his name and
oozes quality at League One level. He notched 14 goals in 35 appearances across
all competitions last season and already has 2 goals and 2 assists to his name
this. Remains Sunderland’s key man despite now being 33 years old.
Ones to Watch: Scottish attacker Chris Maguire is joint top of the League One scoring charts having
notched 4 goals in 5 league appearances. Has mainly featured in a central
attacking midfield role so far but is comfortable playing on either wing or as
a central striker.
United States international Lynden Gooch will likely start on the right wing. Has scored twice
so far this season and will pose arguably the toughest test that Posh rookie left
back Frazer Blake-Tracy has had to face.
Score Prediction: Sunderland
matches are typically tight and this one will be no different. Sunderland have
both scored and conceded in every match they have played so far this season and
with both matches ending in draws last season I’m expecting the sides to
largely cancel one another out in a 1-1 draw.
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