Peterborough United will host Stevenage at Weston Homes Stadium for the second game in a row on Tuesday as the two sides match up in Southern Group D of the 2024-25 EFL Trophy.
The hosts recorded a dramatic 2-1 victory in this fixture over the weekend, with Kwame Poku netting a 94th-minute winner after the visitors had equalised in the 64th minute, following an early sixth-minute opener.
Match preview
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Peterborough have endured a challenging beginning to their 2024-25 season, winning just five of their opening 12 matches across all competitions, recording two draws and five losses in that time.
That start will undoubtedly leave Darren Ferguson, who has been at the helm since January 2023, extremely disappointed, especially considering the club's ambitions to secure promotion back to the Championship this year after suffering playoff semi-final defeats in each of the last two seasons.
The Posh's return home last weekend marked the end of a difficult period on the road, where they went three games without a win, suffering two losses and a draw, as they beat Stevenage 2-1 thanks to a 94th-minute winner from Poku.
Ferguson will be hoping can build upon that result and triumph on home soil once again as they face Stevenage for the second time in a matter of days, a side they have defeated in each of their last two meetings.
The visitors come into this one level on points with their hosts, having won four, drawn two and lost four of their initial 10 league outings, along with one win in the EFL Trophy and a defeat in the EFL Cup.
Alex Revell, in charge since April 2024, will be slightly underwhelmed with that start given their pre-season aims of pushing into the playoff places after narrowly missing out by five points last term.
It did appear as though Stevenage were starting to build momentum in the past weeks with a draw and two wins in three games, but a narrow defeat to Peterborough brought an end to that stretch.
Revell will be hoping his team can bounce back and enact revenge against Peterborough on Tuesday, though they have failed to win on their travels across all competitions this season.
Team News
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Hector Kyprianou is expected to miss out for the hosts after coming off after just 28 minutes in the 3-0 defeat to Wigan at the beginning of the month.
Jadel Katongo has also been ruled out until around Christmas time after suffering a hamstring injury in the 3-2 defeat to Birmingham, joining Rio Adebisi and Mahamadou Susoho on the treatment table.
The visitors will remain without the services of Charlie Goode, Daniel Sweeney, Jake Forster-Caskey and Aaron Pressley, with all four continuing to recover from their respective injury issues.
Nathan Thompson and Louis Thompson were both also taken off throughout the defeat to the Posh last time out, meaning both are doubts to feature this time around.
Peterborough United possible starting lineup:
Steer; Curtis, Fernandez, Wallin, Sparkes; O'Brien-Brady, Collins; Poku, Hayes, Mothersille; Jones
Stevenage possible starting lineup:
Mahoney; James-Wildin, Freestone, Piergianni, Butler; Freeman, King; Roberts, Phillips, Reid; Young
We say: Peterborough United 1-0 Stevenage
The hosts have got the better of Tuesday's opposition in each of their last two meetings, and with the visitors without an away win in 13 games, we expect another home win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
