Peterborough breakdown: In-form ex Bristol Rovers striker, Sammie Szmodics and their weaknesses

Bristol City are back amongst their home supporters as they welcome relegation threatened Peterborough United to Ashton Gate in the EFL Championship.

The Robins lost 3-2 to AFC Bournemouth in their last match, whilst the Posh were in midweek action and had a 1-1 draw with promotion chasing Luton Town.

Grant McCann's side are rock bottom of the division and a negative result for the Cambridgeshire side would further put their second tier status into doubt.

But despite their unpromising league position, they still possess some quality and in the last month have taken points off of the likes of Bournemouth, Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers.

To get more of an insight in to what Peterborough United can offer, we sought the words of Ben Jones, a reporter for the Peterborough Telegraph, to tell us what to expect.

Key player

Joe Ward has come back in from the cold and has been one of Posh’s most consistent performers in the last month or so at wingback. He set up the goal on Tuesday for JCH, who has five goals in five matches so also a man that is in good form and is the main goal threat at the minute.

Strengths

This is the problem, Posh struggle to do well against teams and have found themselves lacking the quality of players to cause teams problems on a regular basis.

They will play a back three, I assume Jeando Fuchs will press and win the ball high up the field. If Posh can get the ball forward and create him chances, Jack Marriott is an experienced poacher. He knows exactly where to be and can finish but frequently isn’t supplied with those chances.

JCH is a man in form and Posh will look to use the wing backs to get balls for him to challenge for.

Weaknesses

Wing back is a problem area for Posh, quick/skilful wide players will cause Posh’s wingbacks, which are likely to be Burrows and Ward, neither of which are natural defenders.

Posh also have a tendency to sit off side who like to move the ball quickly but in doing so, still seem to have an ability to give up plenty of space.

Team news

The goalkeeper Steven Benda is out with a broken finger. The captain Oliver Norburn tore his ACL on international duty with Grenada. Defenders Nathan Thomspson and Dan Butler long term injured, shoulder and ankle ligaments.

Last meeting

Siriki Dembele being sold to Bournemouth, his creativity and goals have been a big loss and he’s not been replaced. A series of loan players were brought in in January but most of those don’t get a look in anymore. Only Benda really but he’s been out with a couple of injuries for about a month. Bali Mumba gets in the squad but plays a bit-part role.

The manager has also changed of course, Posh look much better away under McCann. He has settled on a back three, I believe it was a 4-4-2 Posh played in October.

And finally… Sammie Szmozdics had a less than memorable spell for City, but at Peterborough he has found a home. What kind of player has he been for the Posh and where does he fit in?

He is a very popular player with some fans, mainly for his exploits in League One for us it must be said. He has found this year tough.

He has scored three league goals this season, two of them against City in the return game. He then didn’t score a league goal until March 16 against Swansea.

He had a big falling out with Darren Ferguson from quotes pieced together from the pair before and after he left. McCann has brought him back in and he is a real trier but he did not play on Saturday and Kwame Poku may well play ahead of him again.

Posh are the kind of team that may only get a handful of moments to score in a game and he has not shown himself clinical enough to take advantage of those this season.