Rochdale, who signed two players to bolster their squad on Friday afternoon, are the opponents for Posh this weekend.
Peterborough United return to Sky Bet League One action on Saturday with a visit from Rochdale (3pm) knowing that a victory could launch them back into the top six of the league table.
Steve Evan’s men recorded a comfortable 3-1 success over Chelsea under 21s at Stamford Bridge in the Checkatrade Trophy on Wednesday evening and the Posh boss has options in terms of team selection with three players returning to the squad.
TEAM NEWS
Midfielder Alex Woodyard returns to the squad after missing the victory at Stamford Bridge while defender Ben White and fellow new signing Kyle Dempsey are also available after missing the midweek win as they were ineligible.
Defender Seb Bassong has been allowed time to talk to a new club as he nears the end of his short-term deal with the football club. No player is currently troubling the club’s medical team ahead of the clash with Dale.
Rochdale have strengthened their squad with the arrival of powerful defender Ethan Ebanks-Landell from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a short term loan deal. Keith Hill has also brought in Manchester United youngster Ethan Hamilton to bolster their squad. He is a versatile performer who can operate in midfield or defence.
Former Posh midfielder Brad Inman is set to feature while another ex-Posh player, Kgosi Ntlhe is on the books at the Crown Oil Arena.
FROM THE GAFFER
“We will be focussing on how we can impose our game on our opponents. We may tweak the formation, we have been looking at that in terms of potentially getting two strikers onto the pitch, but we need to take the positives from the midweek display in the second half in particular. In fact if we could marry the first half at Middlesbrough and the second half at Chelsea then we would be delighted.”
STAT ATTACK
Rochdale's Ian Henderson has been directly involved in more goals (18 - 13 goals, five assists) than any other player in League One 2018-19. Posh front man Ivan Toney scored more goals in December in all competitions (10) than anyone else. Toney was named the Sky Bet League One Player of the Month for December on Friday.
TICKET NEWS
This fixture is a Category ‘B’ fixture and tickets are available now at www.theposhtickets.com, via the Ticketmaster hotline 0844 847 1934 (calls cost 7ppm plus your network access fee) and in person at the ABAX Stadium Box Office.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
The match referee is Darren Drysdale.
FAN ZONE
The Salvation Army will be performing in the fan zone prior to kick-off with the inflatables and the Smyth’s Toys Game Stations also available for supporters to play FIFA19 on.