Peterborough – Port Vale

First placed Peterborough will take on relegation candidates Port Vale at home in the 6th round of the English League One.

Peterborough has not changed too much in the last years, they will look to gain another promotion to the Championship under Darren Ferguson and they started great with 4 wins and 1 loss despite having a lot of injury problems. The hosts are on the back of 2 consecutive victories, playing their usual brand of attacking football, looking to win the game rather than settle for a draw (last season they finished 6th with just 5 draws in 46 games but lost in the playoffs).

Port Vale`s start of the season is not looking too good, the visitors have only 5 points in 5 matches and have lost the last three matches (League Cup included), allowing 7 goals in the process. Port Vale had a pretty good campaign last year, looked capable to reach the playoffs at one point, but they aren`t expected to perform like that this year and if they don`t pick up their game they are set to be involved in a dogfight for relegaiton. Port Vale`s only points this year came against teams in the bottom half of the table, so taking on Peterborough away will be a challenge.

Team news: Peterborough misses a lot of players (that`s why their odds are slightly going up) but they are starting to get used to that and performed rather well so far despite the absences. Bostwick, Zakuani, Oztumer, McEvoy and Mendez-Laing are all out. There are also good news for Darren Ferguson, as he will get back Baldwin, Taylor and possibly Kgosi, who were all unavailable last round. Port Vale misses Campion and Slew.

I like Peterborough`s odds to win this and I reckon they will get a good result at home. Not only are they the better team, but the matchup between their potent offense and Port Vale`s shaky defense works in their favor, and the fact that Peterborough rarely draws makes me believe Port Vale doesn`t have the best of chances to defend for a stalemate. The visiting manager is planning to make some changes, giving a couple of reserve players a chance after the poor football showed by the starters – I don`t think Port Vale has enough depth for this approach to work in their favor. My tip is Peterborough to win, the hosts are playing good football and are favorites for a good reason. Prediction: Peterborough – Port Vale 2-0.

Pick: Peterborough
Odds: 1.91 @ Bet365
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.28
Event date: 6 September