PETERBOROUGH UNITED v PORTSMOUTH
Football – England – Championship
Saturday 28th January 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

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London Road is the venue for one of just two Championship matches for Saturday when hosts Peterborough United take on cash-strapped Portsmouth with both sides eager to pull away from the drop zone and avoid being sucked into a relegation dog-fight.

Peterborough United (16th)
HOME 6-2-5 28/22

Out of these two clubs, Peterborough have fared slightly better and are nine points above 22nd placed Nottingham Forest, while Portsmouth are seven points ahead. As we all know, this division is known as the ‘ping-pong’ league as it is very tight all season and a couple of wins can propel a team into play-off reckoning.

Peterborough though have had a mixed season and their recent results have been a testament to this; two wins (against Coventry City and Nottingham Forest), two draws (Middlesbrough and Birmingham City) and two losses (Hull City and Brighton), so, difficult to see any clear trend with them as inconsistency seems to be their main problem.

Posh’s home record stands at 6-2-5 28/22, and only Southampton with 30 goals have scored more on home turf. However, their defence is also susceptible with only Nottingham Forest (24 goals) conceding more goals.

Midfielder Grant McCann (8 goals, 3 assists) along with forward Emile Sinclair (7 goals, 3 assists), Paul Taylor (6 goals, 3 assists) with Lee Frecklington, Lee Tomlin and George Boyd all chipping in with 5 goals each. All of the aforementioned players have also contributed with assists too, so plenty of attacking threats from Darren Ferguson’s side.

Portsmouth (17th)
AWAY 1-4-8 10/19)

Portsmouth travel to Peterborough with the foreboding shadow of a winding up order behind them served up courtesy of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, and this must be worrying times for the south coast side.

Pompey also have lost their last two league matches but when you consider they were at home to West Ham and away at Cardiff City, then these are understandable. However, just one win on the road all season so far is not a good record when you’re up against one of the high-scoring teams in the Championship, and this could be a determining factor.

Pompey’s away record stands at 1-4-8 10/19, with their solitary success coming at Burnley back in mid-December. They’ve struggled to find the net all season with top scorer being Luke Varney (5 goals) but he didn’t feature at Cardiff last weekend. New loan signing and former Manchester City forward, Kelvin Etuhu made his debut last week and is set for another outing at Peterborough.

Striker Dave Kitson (3 goals, 2 assists), Erik Huseklepp (3 goals, 4 assists) and Marko Futacs (3 goals) are all threats but don’t tend to all fire at the same time.

The Betting Verdict :

I have to go with the home side in this one as they possess greater firepower, albeit tentatively, so I’ll back them with the round ball for insurance;

Peterborough to win 2-1 as a possible scoreline.

The Pick :

Peterborough 2-1 Portsmouth

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Value Pick :
Consider a bet on Peterborough United to win @ 2.30

HANDICAP BETTING :

Main Pick :
Take Peterborough United AH+0 @ 1.67