Peterborough United travel to Coventry City on Friday night having been boosted by moving out of the relegation as a result of Derby County’s confirmed 12 point deduction for entering administration.

Darren Ferguson’s side had picked up a much-needed second win in the Championship this season last weekend in what was arguably their best performance of the campaign to date.

Beating a side that had started the season well and who had a solid defensive record in Birmingham City by a 3-0 scoreline has to give Peterborough a lot of renewed belief that they can survive the drop this term and climb the table.

The win against Birmingham was a perfect response to two difficult away defeats in their previous two matches in the Championship. That had seen Ferguson’s side fall to a heavy 6-2 loss at Sheffield United and then lose 3-1 at Reading.

Peterborough will be under pressure to now try and sort out their away form with them yet to win on their travels since earning promotion back to the Championship.

It has been four successive defeats on their travels so far this term for Peterborough and unless that changes, it is going to be difficult for them to survive the drop.

Love the EFL? Want to share your opinions about your club? Get involved by subscribing to FLW TV on Youtube HERE!

There are issues coming into the game for Ferguson in terms of injuries and a potential major suspension, so with all that in mind we take a look at the side that Peterborough could field at Coventry…

Ferguson is likely to stick with the 4-3-3 set-up that served Peterborough so well in their pevious game against Birmingham.

 

 

However,  circumstances around Jonson Clarke-Harris’ potential suspension might mean that he needs to make some tweaks to the way they operate within that shape.

Dai Cornell is Peterborough’s clear number one goalkeeper now this season. Ferguson even went as far as saying to the media ahead of the trip to Coventry that he would sign a free agent rather than recall Christy Pym to the side after a bust-up after the Reading loss.

At right-back Nathan Thompson should keep his place in the side and he has been delivering some very solid performances for Peterborough over the last few weeks. He will need to be at his best once again on Friday to help Ferguson’s side contain Coventry.

Down the left-hand side of the defence, Dan Butler delivered a much-improved performance against Birmingham City last time out after a difficult game at Sheffield United in particular. The 27-year-old is one of the go-to players for Ferguson in his starting line-up and he will hope to produce another strong performance here.

At the heart of the defence, Ferguson is likely to stick with the paring of Ronnie Edwards and Frankie Kent after the pair helped Peterborough recall a confidence-boosting clean sheet against Birmingham last time out. The pair will need to be at their best to contain Victor Gyorkeres.

You would not expect Ferguson to make changes to his midfield three for the visit to Coventry with all three of Oliver Norburn, Jack Taylor and Jorge Grant having produced excellent performances to help Peterborough overrun Birmingham’s midfield last weekend.

In terms of the front three, Ferguson faces a real potential issue now with Clarke-Harris potentially facing a suspension heading into the game.

Jack Marriott is set for an extended spell on the sidelines with a severe hamstring injury, while Ricky Jade-Jones is also still out of action with him recovering from injury.

As a result, Sammie Szmodics could come into the side as a false number nine and he could look to cause problems for Coventry by interchanging positions with Siriki Dembele and Joe Ward.