Preview: Peterborough home

Wolves continue their busy Christmas schedule with the visit of Peterborough United to Molineux on Boxing Day. On paper this will be (perhaps rightfully) seen as a home banker, as a guaranteed 3 points for Stale Solbakken's side - but the reality is it'll be anything but. From a personal point of view, it's a huge game for me as I have become very much a Peterborough fan over the years (even more so this season) and regard them as my second team nowadays. As a result, my preview of the opposition will be much more indepth than usual.

Ebanks-Blake gives Wolves the lead from the spot at London Road

This is actually The Posh's first visit to Molineux since April 1994, when the two sides drew 1-1 as Peterborough were on their way to relegation from Division One. In fact, there have only ever been 9 meetings between the sides, with Wolves winning 5 and Posh winning 2. Though in Posh's 4 visits to Molineux, they've only lost once. So clearly it's not as intimidating to them as it may seem. Our last meeting with them, a 2-0 victory at London Road, was a game that several Peterborough fans have attributed to being the kickstart to their season (they went on to win at Hull and Barnsley in their next 2 games). Having said that, I don't actually think they played that badly against us. They came out of the starting blocks quickly and tested Carl Ikeme with some early efforts, but once we'd settled down we began to control the first half, pushing forward - Ebanks-Blake and Doyle proving a real handful for the back three of Peterborough. We finally took the lead from the penalty spot after Ebanks-Blake had been foolishly tripped by Grant McCann, the striker dusting himself down and smashing the penalty straight down the middle. The goal spurred us on and we could've added to our lead with both Ebanks-Blake and Doyle being denied by Bobby Olejnik and the woodwork. Half time came and went and it was clearly Darren Ferguson's team talk that had made the most impact, as Posh again came out and played much better in the second half. They dominated the majority of the second 45 minutes, forcing Carl Ikeme into quite a few saves and pushing us further back. However, they couldn't get that vital goal and 8 minutes from time, Sigurdarson raced on to a flick from Kevin Doyle and chipped the ball over Olejnik to score his first Wolves goal.

Bostwick scores a screamer to give Posh the lead in Cardiff

Posh have had a mixed bag of results since that game. Despite recording 3-0 and 3-1 over Huddersfield and Derby respectively, they suffered late goal heartbreak against Palace and Brighton in the middle of an 8 game winless run. Their performances haven't always been too bad though, and even though results may make it look like they've been outplayed, most matches have been quite tight. Often it's just quality of the final ball/shot (or lack of in Posh's case sometimes) that has cost them. They've experienced a recent mini revival lately though - running Middlesbrough very close at home in a 3-2 defeat, before shocking the footballing world by going to Cardiff (who had the best home record in Europe) and deservedly winning 2-1. They followed that up by beating Bolton 5-4 at home in one of the games of the season so far! In typical Posh fashion though, they were 5-2 up with 10 minutes to go, before giving their fans (including myself who was there for the day) heart failure with two goals conceded late on to create a nervy finish. Despite these two vital wins, they are still bottom of the league on goal difference. Understandable really, given that they've conceded an average of 1.91 goals per game. They don't score too many this season either - compared to the Peterborough of old. They've only scored 30 goals this season, a disappointing average of just 1.3 per game.

There are actually some similarities between Posh and ourselves statistically. Posh do tend to come out of the starting block early - of their 30 goals scored, 15 have come in the first 30 minutes. Likewise, they fade in the second half with 31 of their 44 goals conceded coming after half-time.The last 10 minutes is where they struggle most, however, conceding 12 goals after the 80th minute (we've conceded 7 in the same time period). This is backed up by the fact that they have lost 11 points from winning positions this season (compared with Wolves who've lost an alarming 17 points). One thing that's guaranteed on Wednesday is goals. Wolves have gone 24 games without a 0-0, while Peterborough have gone over 3 years (144 games) without registering a no score draw.

Lee Tomlin: Peterborough's driving force with real quality

However, looking at their side on paper, they really shouldn't find themselves bottom. They have some real quality in the ranks - particularly going forward. Lee Tomlin is the man at the heart of everything good they do. The number 8, who plays in the hole just behind the striker (though enjoys a mostly free role), can trouble any Championship defence on his day. He's contributed 7 goals and 5 assists to the Peterborough cause this season, and his vision, passing and finishing make him a real threat. Indeed, given the concerns over O'Hara's fitness, we at Wolves could do a lot worse than someone like Tomlin to play that role behind the striker. Tomlin has formed an impressive link-up with loan signing Dwight Gayle, who has instantly become a fans favourite at London Road after scoring 5 goals in 6 games - including the winner at Cardiff last weekend. George Boyd - who is synonymous with Peterborough - has also looked impressive this season and has chipped in with 6 goals in all competitions (including the undoubted goal of the season so far against Huddersfield).

Despite conceding so many goals, even at the back Peterborough look strong on paper. Traditionally going with a 3-5-2, centre-backs Michael Bostick, Gabriel Zakuani and Nathaniel Knight-Percival are strong in the air, comfortable with the ball at their feet, and will never shirk a tackle. The wing-backs of Joe Newell and ex-Wolf cub Mark Little provide pace on the flanks and create space for creative players like Boyd and Tomlin to exploit through the middle. One young man to look out for at Molineux on Boxing Day is on-loan Albion midfielder George Thorne, who scored his first professional goal against Bolton on Saturday. He's a tenacious box-to-box player with an eye for goal and a cool head on his shoulders. He will be especially up for this game and will no doubt relish the stick he will get from the South Bank.

Carl Ikeme is in the form of his life this season

As for Wolves, well we come into this festive fixture on the back of stealing 3 points off a hugely unfortunate Blackpool side. The win came thanks to a real slice of luck in a penalty award that was soft at best. But the real catalyst behind the victory was a stand out performance from Carl Ikeme, who stopped everything that Blackpool threw at him. It was a display reminiscent of Boxing Day last year when Wayne Hennessey single-handedly stopped Arsenal taking all 3 points against 10-man Wolves. The win at Bloomfield Road was Wolves' 3rd in 4 games, meaning that Stale Solbakken's side are once again beginning to build up momentum and will see their next 2 games as a real chance to push towards the play-offs going into the new year. Friday night's game continued our fantastic run of scoring first in well over half of our games (16 out of 23). Though with Peterborough's 2 goals in the first 6 minutes on Saturday, we must be wary not to leave ourselves too open. We do actually have the 3rd best record in the league against bottom-half sides, winning 7 of our 11 meetings with them and picking up 23 points. What will encourage Peterborough is that we have only kept 5 clean sheets this season and they certainly have no problem scoring - only failing to do so in 7 games. Surprisingly, our home record isn't that good - we've only 4 won of our 11 home games, proving that Molineux isn't quite the fortress it should be. However,
Peterborough don't appear to travel well - only winning 3 out of 11 away games.

Davis: Becoming a bit of a super-sub for Wolves in midfield

What was interesting about the Blackpool game is that we finally saw an impressive performance on the right-wing from Jermaine Pennant and it could be that the on-loan winger starts again on Wednesday, with Sigurdarson taking a place on the bench to preserve his fitness. Given how tight Darren Ferguson's side will want to keep the midfield, our best chance of getting something will probably come from the activity of the wide men. Should we struggle to break them down in open play, Peterborough showed against Bolton on Saturday that - with the right delivery - corners can trouble them and with Sako's dead-ball ability, Wolves have a real weapon with which to hit them. Despite making a huge impact at Bloomfield Road, it is expected David Davis will again start on the bench, with Henry and Doumbia being Solbakken's preferred choice in midfield. With Posh's record of conceding late goals, Davis' energy and vision could see him become a key figure in the second-half against tired legs and minds. At the back, the pace of Gayle could be a problem for the slightly slower pairing of Johnson and Berra, whilst the ever-changing position of Tomlin will cause a real headache for skipper Karl Henry. A special mention must go to the Wolves captain, who is set to make his 250th appearance for his home town club on Boxing Day. Whatever your opinion of him (and it is very split), he has been a real leader and an unsung hero of this squad for so long. It's a fantastic milestone and hopefully there'll be many more appearances in the Old Gold to come for him.

We do have the better squad - although Peterborough's first XI is decent too - and with home advantage we will be huge favourites to win. But we are Wolves - it's never that simple. Posh will be flying after their results against Cardiff and Bolton and we do have a tendancy to have one of 'those' days against the lower sides. I think it will be quite an open game, although I don't think we'll see high scoring exploits. Wolves fans will expect a win, Posh will happily take a draw. I somehow think it'll be the away side going away happier after 90 minutes.

Prediction: Wolves 1-1 Peterborough

In Stale We Trust.