A look ahead to the Boxing Day meeting with Mansfield Town at the Weston Homes Stadium (3pm).
Peterborough United begin their challenging schedule of four games in 10 days with a meeting with Nigel Clough's Mansfield Town at the Weston Homes Stadium on Boxing Day (3pm).
Darren Ferguson's men go into the game on the back of a narrow 2-1 defeat at high-flying Stockport County, while the Stags were 1-0 winners over Steve Evans' Rotherham United side at the One Call Stadium.
TEAM NEWS
Posh are hopeful that skipper Hector Kyprianou will be available for selection after he had an injection on an ankle injury sustained at Edgeley Park.
Fellow midfielder Archie Collins is fit again after illness, but other players within the squad are struggling with cold-like symptoms which have spread.
Rio Adebisi came through his 15 minutes at Stockport without any reaction and trained as normal on Christmas Eve, while Jed Steer is also back in training. Bradley Ihionvien remains sidelined while Gustav Lindgren can't feature until Wrexham away.
Mahamadou Susoho is due to report to training for the final part of his rehabilitation on the 27th December.
Midfielder Louis Reed will be available for selection again after serving a one-match suspension against Rotherham on Saturday. His replacement in the engine room, George Maris, sustained a dead leg and will be assessed prior to the contest. Forward Rhys Oates was out with a sore but will be evaluated ahead of Thursday’s game.
Stags will be without striker Lee Gregory (knee) and attacking midfielder Ben Quinn (shoulder) for the match.
MANAGER QUOTES
"Mansfield had a good win against Rotherham and although that was their first win for a little while, they have actually played well in the games that they have lost. They have done really well following promotion and slipped under the radar a little bit. As with any game though, our focus is on ourselves and we are at home, we are looking forward to the challenge that awaits," Darren Ferguson said.
ONE TO WATCH
Lucas Akins
Versatile forward, Lucas Akins (pictured below), joined the Stags in the January transfer window in 2022. The Grenadian, who played under manager Nigel Clough at Burton Albion, penned a two-and-a-half-year deal at One Call Stadium.
Lucas rose through the ranks at hometown club Huddersfield Town, making his debut in August 2007, before enjoying a brief loan spell at Northwich Victoria. Stints followed in Scotland with Partick Thistle and Hamilton Academical before Tranmere Rovers captured his signature in 2010.
His impressive spells in Scotland earnt the forward a move to Stevenage in 2012. Lucas made his move to Burton in 2014, going on to play a key role in the Brewer’s rise up the football league, enjoying promotion to the Championship in 2016.
A fans’ favourite at the Pirelli Stadium, he won back-to-back supporters' and players' Player of the Year awards in 2018 and 2019. He made 345 appearances in all competitions for Burton, scoring 71 goals. Lucas also holds the club record for most appearances and goals scored for Burton in the Football League.
The forward made his Mansfield debut in the Stags' superb 3-1 victory away at Barrow in January 2022. Lucas played 49 times across all competitions in Stags’ promotion season, netting 14 times despite playing in multiple different positions.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are available at www.theposhtickets.com and from the Weston Homes Stadium Ticket Office from 10am on Boxing Day. The GH Display Stand is open to Posh fans with Mansfield fans accommodated in the away section of the Kings Power Solutions Stand. Mansfield have sold out their allocation.
POSH STORE
The Posh Store will be open from 10am on Boxing Day, will open for a short period during the half-time interval and open following the game for a short period.
KIT COLOURS
Posh will be in the home kit for this game.
MATCH OFFICIAL
The referee is Jacob Miles