A look ahead to Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship meeting with Stoke City.
Peterborough United welcome Michael O’Neill’s Stoke City side to the Weston Homes Stadium in Sky Bet Championship action on Saturday afternoon looking to build on Tuesday night’s creditable 1-1 draw at promotion contenders AFC Bournemouth.
The Potters drew 1-1 with Barnsley on Tuesday night with Lewis Baker securing a point in the 95th minute of the fixture at Oakwell. Stoke will still feel that a late run could see them move into the play-off shake-up come the end of the season.
Stoke won 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the bet365.stadium with Tyrese Campbell and Mario Vrancic bagging the two goals, while Sam Surridge was sent-off.
TEAM NEWS
Goalkeeper Steven Benda is set to miss three games with a back injury after a scan revealed the damage sustained during the Emirates FA Cup fifth round tie with Manchester City. It was a challenge by midfielder Fernandinho that led to the injury. Dai Cornell is expected to continue between the sticks.
Dan Butler (ankle) is definitely out but Jack Taylor suffered no reaction to his first start of the year at the Vitality Stadium. Injury-plagued Stoke City linchpin Nick Powell has been ruled out for six more weeks with a new quad muscle injury.
The influential playmaker limped out of Stoke's 1-0 home defeat by Blackpool on Saturday - and boss Michael O'Neill confirmed this latest blow after Tuesday's 1-1 draw at lowly Barnsley.
FROM THE GAFFER
“Michael O’Neill has assembled a really strong squad at Stoke, they have good players in the line-up, good players on the bench and good players that are not even in the 18. We know that regardless of the form they are currently in, they will be a difficult test for us, but in this league, any team can beat any other, it is about reaching the standards that you set. We go into it on the back of a point at Bournemouth and the lads are in a good place,” Grant McCann said.
FROM THE OPPOSITION
“Peterborough have gone to a good team on Tuesday and got a point. They have tried to play, they want to play football, they have good footballers in the team. I felt they played very well when they came to our place, but they lost 2-0 and they have conceded a lot of goals, which makes it difficult to win football matches. We are ready for a tough game,” Michael O’Neill said.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are on sale at www.theposhtickets.com and via the Weston Homes Stadium Box Office. Stoke City have sold 2,200 tickets so far and will occupy the Deskgo Stand.
POSH+
Our Sky Bet Championship match against Stoke City at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) will unfortunately only be available for live streaming via Posh+ in dark market territories.
As Pitch International are broadcasting the match live, it cannot be streamed in the UK and Ireland or any other country where the EFL has broadcasting agreements in place.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Geoff Eltringham is the match referee.