Peterborough United will be hoping to take the lead in League One when they take on Shrewsbury Town at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts are currently in second place in the league standings with 52 points after 26 matches, while the visitors are in 17th spot with 30 points and have played a game more than their opponents.

Match preview

Peterborough have been excellent this season and come into this match off the back of a 2-1 win over Charlton Athletic last week, which saw them extend their recent record to 10 league matches unbeaten.

The Posh dominated the match from the off, and Ephron Mason-Clark scored twice, which was enough to see his side hang on to second place in the league standings despite Derby County beating Burton Albion on Monday night.

To surpass The Posh, the Rams had to defeat the struggling Burton by a two-goal margin at Pride Park but only managed a narrow 3-2 victory with an injury-time goal in a match lacking overall quality.

Portsmouth are one point ahead of Peterborough and Derby but have played one more game, while Bolton Wanderers in fourth are well-placed, just two points behind the top spot with three games in hand over Pompey.

The Posh will be oozing confidence heading into this match as they have only been beaten once at home in 12 matches this season and are unbeaten in their last 10 matches at Weston Homes dating back to late August.

These sides met just under a month ago, and Shrewsbury Town were beaten 2-1 by their visitors on the day, which marked their third consecutive loss against Peterborough since March last year.

Since then, the Shrews have only picked up three points in four games, beating bottom club Fleetwood Town on New Year's Day while losing to Cheltenham Town (2-0), Burton Albion (1-0), and most recently, Stevenage (1-0) last week.

Matthew Taylor's side have been struggling at both ends of the pitch this season, with their 17-goal tally being the lowest of any side in the division while they have shipped 37, which puts them in the bottom five defences in League One.

All the while, a potential takeover still looms for Shrewsbury after the club's chief executive Liam Dooley confirmed in the week that they are in talks with two parties over a potential sale, though he stressed that they are still at the very early stages.

Team News

Peterborough winger Kwame Poku has been ruled out for the rest of the month after sustaining an ankle injury in the second half of last week's 2-1 victory at The Valley.

David Ajiboye is expected to replace Poku in the starting lineup after receiving praise from The Posh boss for his performance against Charlton last week.

Despite appearing to be limping in the latter stages against Charlton, Darren Ferguson confirmed in his post-match conference that Mason-Clark had not picked an injury and should start this match alongside Joel Randall and Ajiboye.

Elliot Thorpe returned to his parent club Luton Town last week, which will likely mean that Carl Winchester, Nohan Kenneh and Morgan Feeney will make up the midfield trio on Saturday.

Kieran Phillips is still recovering from a knee injury and is only expected to return in February, while George Nurse's ruptured ACL is likely to see him miss the majority of the league campaign.

Peterborough United possible starting lineup:
Steer; Katongo, Knight, Edwards, Burrows; Kyprianou, Collins; Ajiboye, Randall, Mason-Clark; Jones

Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Dunkley, Pierre, Sraha, Benning; Feeney, Winchester, Kenneh; Sobowale, Shipley; Bowan

We say: Peterborough United 3-0 Shrewsbury Town

With Portsmouth expected to beat a struggling Fleetwood Town at Highbury Stadium at the same time as this match, Peterborough will know they have to win this game to maintain the pressure on the league leaders. Based on the Posh's recent form and home record, we feel they will have little issue in claiming all three points in this one.


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