Already-relegated Peterborough United round off a dismal Championship campaign with the visit of Blackpool to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
Meanwhile, the visitors are sitting pretty in 16th place in the table and cannot finish any lower, but a couple of sides are there to be usurped.
Match preview
While victories over Blackburn Rovers and Barnsley gave Peterborough a slight glimmer of hope that a second successive season of Championship football was on the cards, Nottingham Forest were quick to extinguish those fantasies on April 23 to send Grant McCann's side down.
Posh's first game since their immediate return to League One was confirmed was also a miserable affair, as a Josh Knight own goal coupled with Benik Afobe and George Saville's efforts saw Millwall run out 3-0 winners at The Den last weekend to rub salt into McCann's wounds.
Barnsley are already condemned to a 24th-placed finish, and the best that Peterborough can now hope for is demoting Derby County down to 23rd, with Posh level on points with the Rams ahead of their final-day meeting with Cardiff City.
Peterborough endured eight seasons of League One football before making their return to the second tier and will be desperate to ensure their fans are not left waiting that long again, but flickers of promise have been evident in the latter stages of this campaign.
However, McCann's side have only posted one win from their last 11 Championship games on their own turf and cannot expect to be full of vigour with their fate already sealed, while Blackpool also head into the contest with nothing but pride on the line as well.
Everything that could have gone for Blackpool against Derby County did go wrong for Neil Critchley. A first-half penalty miss, an early injury and conceding two second-half goals to Malcolm Ebiowei and Eiran Cashin at Bloomfield Road.
A brief three-game unbeaten run for Blackpool came to a disappointing end that day, but unlike their upcoming opponents, they have been able to consolidate their second-tier status after spending four seasons in the doldrums of League One.
Critchley's side now cannot finish any lower than 16th and are only one point behind Swansea City, Preston North End and Stoke City, so ending the season as high as 13th is still a possibility for this weekend's visitors after a solid Championship campaign.
On a more negative note, Blackpool have only posted two wins in 14 Championship away matches since the start of November, but they did ease to a 3-1 win over Peterborough at Bloomfield Road just before Christmas and would welcome a similar scoreline to add insult to injury for their former League One counterparts.
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
- L
- W
- D
- W
- L
Team News
Peterborough midfielder Joe Ward overcame illness and a dead leg to play the full 90 minutes against Millwall, but McCann still has a number of concerns for the final game of the season.
Steven Benda, Callum Morton, Dan Butler, and Nathan Thompson are all set to miss out for Posh, while Oliver Norburn's ACL injury has apparently scuppered his end-of-season switch to Blackpool.
Youngsters such as Ricky Jade-Jones and Kwame Poku will both hope to be handed starts on the final day, but McCann is unlikely to select a weakened team as Posh aim to go down with their heads held high.
Meanwhile, Blackpool lost left-back James Husband to injury in the first half against Derby, so Luke Garbutt could be drafted into the side for the final day of the season.
Dujon Sterling and Grant Ward remain out of contention for the visitors, and Critchley could elect to make a change or two after last weekend's disappointment.
It remains to be seen if soon-to-be free agent Josh Bowler will return for a possible swansong, while Oliver Casey replaced Jordan Thorniley at half time against Derby and may also start.
Peterborough United possible starting lineup:
Cornell; Edwards, Kent, Knight; Ward, Taylor, Fuchs, Burrows; Szmodics; Jade-Jones, Clarke-Harris
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Maxwell; Connolly, Keogh, Casey, Garbutt; Anderson, Dougall, Stewart, Hamilton; Yates, Lavery
We say: Peterborough United 1-1 Blackpool
There is no reason for Peterborough not to go for broke with nothing on the line in this contest, and McCann may look to harness the energy of his youngsters itching to get stuck into the action.
Blackpool will already have one eye on the 2022-23 campaign and have flattered to deceive on the road this term, so we anticipate the two clubs shaking hands on a draw before Posh bid their farewells.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats, suggests the most likely outcome of this match is a Blackpool win with a probability of 45.28%. A win for Peterborough United has a probability of 27.88% and a draw has a probability of 26.8%.
The most likely scoreline is Peterborough United 1-1 Blackpool with a probability of 12.68% and the second most likely scoreline is Peterborough United 0-1 Blackpool with a probability of 12.21%.
Top tip
body check tags ::
Previews by email
