Peterborough vs Birmingham City – Preview

Team news

Peterborough will be without George Boyd who has joined Hull City on loan. Loan signings Alex Pritchard and Scott Wootton will miss out through injury.

Blues will give late fitness tests to Callum Reily and Marlon King who are both doubtful.

Reverse fixture

Blues recorded their first win of the season at the beginning of the season through an own goal by the Peterborough goalkeeper. Peterborough were bottom of the table with no points after this match.

Recent Form

Peterborough are still in 23rd but have only lost once in their last six. Their last game ended in a 5-1 win at Millwall.

Blues are 17th six points ahead. They have also only lost one of their last six and their last away defeat was at the end of December.

Outlook

After a decent run of results last Saturday was a bit of an eye opener as we were totally outplayed by a very good Watford side. Once they’d taken the lead it was all over as they then played the perfect away performance, defending deep and taking us apart on the break. It finally put to bed the idea that we could either make or compete in the playoffs. The remainder of the season is all about staying up which was helped slightly by the draw with Sheffield Wednesday in midweek. Whilst we could really have done with the three points the clean sheet was welcome as was us keeping a relegation rival below us.

Usually having thirty-nine points in mid-February wouldn’t make you too worried about relegation however it is the recent form of the bottom sides that has everyone up to mid-table looking over their shoulders. That is particular true of tomorrow’s opponents who barely got a point in the first two months of the season but are now one of the form teams of the division. Barnsley and Bristol City are also improving under new managers so realistically anyone from Millwall down could be playing in League One next year. Peterborough’s plight has not been helped by the odd decision to loan one of their top players George Boyd to Hull City for the rest of the season. By all accounts he was their star man in midweek but I understand he wanted to go so they really couldn’t stop him. It’s a big blow for them but a boost for us.

Even without Boyd tomorrow will be tough and we will need our strikers to find their form in front of goal again. Nikola Zigic was restored to the starting line-up in midweek but if his way of showing the manager what he can do is missing simple chances then he’ll be back on the bench again soon. As we are away from home I wouldn’t be surprised if we went with five in midfield anyway with perhaps Nathan Redmond coming in for Zigic. I’d like to see Redmond picked on the left ahead of Hall who has played a lot recently without really creating much but he should also be given a licence to come off his wing and get involved up front.

George Boyd leaving will make a big difference but Peterborough’s form makes me think they’ll still just sneak it.

My prediction

Peterborough 2 Blues 1

C’mon you Blue Boys.