Having struggled for a while, Port Vale’s performances of late have certainly improved and it would appear as though they’ve got a good opportunity to regain the winning thread when hosting a Peterborough team who’re on the slide at Vale Park on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors may have failed to win any of their last three fixtures but they’ve begun to show much more going forward (scored four goals in their last two matches), particularly when scoring twice last time out against league leaders Scunthorpe. With a tough run of fixtures in front of them, this match against Peterborough – a team who aren’t faring well of late – provides the hosts with a big chance to boost their form ahead of what could be a potentially tricky period.
The two bets that catch the eye ahead of this clash are ‘Port Vale Draw No Bet’ and ‘Port Vale to Score Over 1.5 Goals’. It might take a bit of a leap of faith to back a side such as Port Vale this season, but they’ve done a lot better in the last couple of weeks and look to be facing this Peterborough outfit at exactly the right time.
Although Vale’s form on the road has been little short of disastrous, they’ve actually performed with plenty of credit on their own patch. Having played 14 times at Vale Park, they’ve won seven, drawn four and lost just three. From an attacking perspective, Vale have also thrived on home soil, as their tally of 23 goals scored suggests.
Recent improvements at Vale have coincided with Michael Brown replacing previous manager Bruno Ribeiro, and The Valiants have lost just once (3-2 away defeat at league leaders Scunthorpe) in four league matches since the ex-Premier League midfielder took the reigns on a temporary basis.
It wasn’t too long ago that the visitors were fancied by many as play-off candidates, but a number of poor defensive displays has seriously dented their chances and it looks for all to see that Peterborough are on a steep downward curve right now. Grant McCann’s side have won just once in their last five matches and have been on the end of a few heavy defeats in recent weeks. Having lost each of their last two matches in League One, The Posh come into this match having conceded no less than 12 goals in their last five fixtures.
Given the way Peterborough are defending right now, it’s certainly not hard to imagine an improving Port Vale attack – one that has scored at least twice on nine occasions at home this season – experiencing plenty of joy going forward here. Frankly, at odds of 7/4, the hosts really do look a good bet to find the net a couple of times.
With the way these two have performed in recent matches, Port Vale have to be favoured and, against a Peterborough team who continue too leak far too many goals, the hosts look capable of remaining undefeated at home under Brown.
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