Peterborough v Sheffield Wednesday predictions and odds: Tight tussle may leave tie in the balance

Where to watch Peterborough v Sheffield Wednesday

Sky Sports Main Event & Football, 8pm Friday

Best bet

Draw
1pt 23-10 Hills

Peterborough v Sheffield Wednesday odds

Peterborough 7-4
Sheffield Wednesday 13-8
Draw 23-10

Odds correct at time of publishing

Peterborough v Sheffield Wednesday team news

Peterborough
On-loan Swansea defender Nathanael Ogbeta has returned to his parent club. Ronnie Edwards has received a call up to England's Under-20 squad but has been cleared to feature in the playoffs.

Sheffield Wednesday
Lee Gregory could feature but Mallik Wilks and George Byers are set to miss out. Michael Ihiekwe was rested last weekend but should return to contention.

Peterborough v Sheffield Wednesday predictions

Sheffield Wednesday had hoped to avoid going through the League One playoffs but they are the favourites to win them and can make a solid enough start by holding Peterborough to a draw in the first leg of their semi-final at London Road.

An extended campaign was not the plan for Wednesday, who lost out 2-1 on aggregate to Sunderland in last season's semi-finals.

But it would be silly for Darren Moore's side to be too down on themselves because their 96-point tally would normally have taken them up as champions.

Wednesday finished 19 points above sixth-placed Peterborough and approach the post-season in decent touch having won their last four matches.

Moore has a few selection issues to ponder in attack with Josh Windass working his way back to full match sharpness and Lee Gregory returning to training despite a cheekbone injury.

Either would add greater quality up front and it is far from ideal that their fitness is in question at such a crucial stage of the season.

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson has a simpler selection process and must be tempted to go with the 11 who started Saturday's 2-0 success at Barnsley.

The Posh rose to the challenge of their high stakes game at Oakwell, where only a victory was enough for them to leapfrog Derby into sixth place.

Having effectively come through one knockout scenario, the Posh look as well prepared as they could be for the playoffs.

However, they are up against an immensely strong Wednesday side and may be happy enough to keep the scores level until Thursday's return match in Yorkshire.

Key stat

Peterborough have drawn two of their last four home fixtures

Probable teams

Peterborough (4-2-3-1): Norris; Ward, Kent, Edwards, Burrows; Kyprianou, Norburn; Poku, Taylor, Mason-Clark; Clarke-Harris.
Subs: Tshimanga, Butler, Knight, Jones, Thompson, Blackmore, Randall.

Sheffield Wednesday (3-5-2): Dawson; Iorfa, Flint, Ihiekwe; Palmer, Dele-Bashiru, Vaulks, Bannan, Johnson; Smith, Windass.
Subs: Stockdale, Paterson, Hunt, Brown, James, Bakinson, Gregory.

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