It’s sixth against seventh at the ABAX Stadium this Saturday as Peterborough United host Port Vale.
The hosts sit in the final Play-Off spot, ahead of seventh placed Port Vale on goal difference.
Both sides will be hoping to build on a solid start with another three points on Saturday afternoon.
Team News:
Peterborough United boss Grant McCann has no fresh injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s game. Hayden White has recovered from his injury which saw him miss the MK Dons and Swindon matches, whilst Michael Smith has returned from international duty and is available for the Posh manager. Lee Angol is the only long term absentee. The only fresh injury concern for Port Vale boss Bruno Ribeiro is Anthony de Freitas, who came off injured in Vale’s 4-1 defeat at Bury last Saturday.
Previous Meetings:
Last season’s game at the ABAX Stadium was a memorable one for the visitors. Posh raced into an early lead through Jon Taylor before Aaron Williams doubled their advantage just before half time, and the home side went in at the break 2-0 up. It really was a game of two halves, as Port Vale came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, scoring immediately after the restart, before two late goals saw them leave the ABAX victorious. Both sides have won two apiece of the last six games against each other, with two draws as well. It’s fair to say the history between the two teams is relatively even, with Port Vale winning 18 and Peterborough United winning 16 of their meetings.
Key Players:
For Peterborough United, it’s difficult to look any further than Marcus Maddison. He’s been in inspired form this season, and was unfortunate to not be nominated for Sky Bet League One player of the month for August. He was crucial to Posh in their 2-2 draw with Swindon last weekend, scoring one and assisting the other, whilst he got both assists in the 2-0 victory at MK Dons.
Nathan Smith was nominated for Sky Bet League One player of the month following a fantastic August. The young centre half has been key to Port Vale’s good start to the season, and has even chipped in with the odd goal here and there. If he can continue his good form and keep the Posh forwards quiet, Port Vale have every chance of taking something from the ABAX stadium.
Tips/Bets:
Home advantage gives Peterborough United the edge in the odds according to 21Bet.
You can get odds of 5/6 on a home victory, 13/5 on a draw, whilst an away victory is out at 3/1.
My top tip would be both teams to score Peterborough to win. The odds for this are 12/5. Peterborough are excellent going forward, and have scored in all but one of their games this season. They have also only kept one clean sheet, which came at MK Dons. Port Vale are a good team going forward and have also failed to score in just one of their games this season. However, unlike Peterborough, they’ve been defensively astute, keeping three clean sheets in their opening six league games. If you fancy Port Vale’s chances of keeping another clean sheet at the ABAX on Saturday, they are 13/2 to win to nil, or 17/4 to keep a clean sheet.
If you’re looking for a correct score bet, I would be going for 3-1 at 12/1. As previously mentioned, going forward Posh are just as good as anyone in the league, and whilst they may not be as defensively solid as they would like, at home they will hope to have a lot of possession and dominate the game. It’s certainly worth a couple of quid in my opinion!
