Peterborough looking for revenge as they head to Bloomfield Road to face Blackpool

Neil Critchley’s side put in one of their best performances of the season as they defeated Posh 2-1 at London Road last year, and he will be hoping for a similar display this time round.

Blackpool sit 15th in the league table, but their midweek postponed fixture against Burton has left them with three games in hand on their Saturday opponents, seeing this as a good opportunity to right the wrongs of their poor showing at Ipswich last time out.

The Seasiders sit nine points off Charlton who take up the last play off place, but with those games in hand they are looking to cement a run of victories to close the gap week on week.

In the current expected goals standings, the Tangerines sit fourth in the table, evidencing their high chance creation numbers and general tightness at the back to showcase themselves as one of the better sides in the division.

Having said that, they have not been able to translate the numbers into a real term showing and time is running out to make a run before the playoff spots are out of reach.

A concern that has been increasingly visible in recent weeks has been Blackpool’s struggles when they switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation to counteract an opponent.

Throughout his spell at Bloomfield Road so far Neil Critchley has made a point of adjusting and tweaking his tactical structure based on the opponent at hand, but it has left the lone striker isolated and chance creation has dipped in favour of nulifying opponent threats.

It is important to nulify threats no doubt, but when it is having more of a negative input on your own attacking outlets then it seems counter intuitive.

When starting with a 4-4-2 Blackpool have a 60% win ratio, when they have switched system they have a 29% win ratio. A stark contrast that many feel should surely point to a need to persist with a 4-4-2 and enforce the Seasiders’ game on their opponents rather than the other way around.

For Peterborough, they have lost just one of their last ten league games and have only conceded more than one goal in that defeat owing to a more assured backline that has grown over the season.

Jonson Clarke-Harris is their top scorer with 15 goals and has provided a sense of relief to the visitors following the loss of Ivan Toney to Brentford in the summer.

But it is not just their threat in front of goal that makes them such a well-rounded outfit, it is the share of creativity.

Joe Ward, Siriki Dembele and Dan Butler have 18 assists between them and have provided a threat out wide that has allowed them to control possession in a manner that looks to remain patient and expose openings in the opposition’s backline.

Not only that but they can spring counter attacks with ease and use the pace in their forward-thinking players to outnumber teams before they are able to regroup.

CJ Hamilton will still be missing for the home side as his long term injury remains a major miss for the Seasiders. He was the spark for them in their victory against Peterborough and without him Blackpool become a weaker side in the creativity stakes.

Having said that, the home side boast an impressive record at Bloomfield Road and have tended to up their game against the better sides in the division. They will be wanting to regain some momentum ahead of the end of season run-in, however Peterborough are an astute, well-versed side and Critchley’s men will have to be at their best to pick up all three points.

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