Preview: Shrewsbury Town vs. Peterborough United - prediction, team news, lineups

Peterborough United set out in search of a fourth victory in December when they journey to the Croud Meadow Stadium to face Shrewsbury Town in round 23 of League One on Saturday.

Having lost both home and away meetings between the sides last season, Posh will head into the weekend looking to get one over the hosts and move into the top half of the table.

Match preview

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Shrewsbury Town failed to get the better of Portsmouth for the eighth consecutive meeting between the sides as they fell to a 3-0 loss when they squared off last Saturday.

Norwich City loanee Abu Kamara broke the deadlock on the stroke of half time to hand Pompey a deserved lead before Marlon Pack and Abu Kamara scored second-half goals to cap off a superb team performance.

Prior to that, Shrewsbury were on a four-match unbeaten run across all competitions, claiming one draw and three wins, including a 3-2 victory over Notts County in the FA Cup second round on December 1.

Matthew Taylor's men have now lost half of their 22 League One matches this season while claiming eight wins and three draws to collect 27 points and sit 13th in the table, level on points with 12th-placed Northampton Town.

Peterborough United, on the other hand, ensured that they remained within touching distance of first-placed Portsmouth as they picked up a 1-0 victory over Fleetwood Town last Saturday.

Former Exeter City midfielder Archie Collins grabbed the headlines at the Highbury Stadium as he netted the only goal of the game in the 42nd minute to hand the hosts their 12th league defeat of the season.

Peterborough have won each of their last four matches across all competitions — scoring nine goals and keeping two clean sheets — including a 3-0 victory over Arsenal Under-21s in the second round of the EFL Trophy on December 5.

Last weekend's result also meant that Posh have now gone unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 league matches, claiming nine wins and five draws since losing three back-to-back between August and September.

With 40 points from 21 matches, Darren Ferguson's men are currently second in the League One standings, seven points adrift of league leaders Portsmouth.

Team News

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Shrewsbury Town will take to the pitch without several key players down the spine of the team, including the midfield trio of Elliot Thorpe, Tom Bayliss and Ryan Finnigan, who are all recuperating from injuries.

Veteran defender Tom Flanagan has missed the last four matches after coming off injured against Port Vale on November 25 and will also play no part in this weekend's match.

He is joined on the Shrews' injury table by fellow defender George Nurse, who has been sidelined since September, while Kieran Phillips is set to sit out his 14th straight game through injury.

With his assist in last Saturday's win over Fleetwood, Ephron Mason-Clarke now has 12 goal involvements in the league (seven goals and five assists) and the 24-year-old will be one to keep an eye on.

Mason-Clarke should form the attacking trio with Kwame Poku and 21-year-old striker Ricky-Jade Jones, while Collins, Joel Randall and Hector Kyprianou should team up at the centre of the park once again.

At the defensive end of the pitch, Josh Knight and 20-year-old Ronnie Edwards are in line to form the centre-back pairing with Nicholas Bilokapic starting between the sticks once again.

Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:

Marosi; Dunkley, Pierre, Anderson; Feeney, Winchester, Kenneh, Perry, Shipley; Bowman, Udoh

Peterborough United possible starting lineup:

Bilokapic; Burrows, Knight, Edwards, Kioso; Collins, Kyprianou, Randall; Mason-Clarke, Poku, Jones

We say: Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Peterborough United

While Shrewsbury will be looking to bounce back from last weekend's defeat, they face the challenge of going up against a Peterborough side who are currently firing on all cylinders. That said, we predict an action-packed contest at the Croud Meadow Stadium, with the visitors claiming all three points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.