How Peterborough United could line up on the opening day of the season

Posh have made six new signings this summer and three of them – Reece Brown, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Ryan Broom – can expect to start the against Cheltenham Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup at the Weston Homes Stadium on September 5.

Notwithstanding the claims of reliable right-sided defender Niall Mason and the promise of teenage centre-back Ronnie Edwards, the Posh back three will pick itself when all are fit.

Golden Glove winning goalkeeper Christy Pym will keep new recruit Dan Gyollai on the sidelines for now.

We are assuming Posh play the 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-3 formation that served them well in the second half of last season so that means wing-backs.

Joe Ward and Dan Butler were the men in possession and that will stay the same although Idris Kanu and Harrison Burrows have showed promise in these positions this summer.

It’s a certainty that Jack Taylor and Reece Brown will reunite in the centre of midfield after their success together last season despite the presence now of Ethan Hamilton, while Broom has been purchased to play in the hole between two strikers.

Currently those first-choice strikers are Mo Eisa and Siriki Dembele, but the arrival of Clarke-Harris for a big fee means he is unlikely to be left on the sidelines.

Eisa would be the man most likely to miss out unless boss Darren Ferguson

LIKELY LINE-UP

(3-4-1-2)

Pym

Thompson, Beevers, Kent

Ward, Brown, Taylor, Butler.

Broom

Clarke-Harris, Dembele.

Interestingly this was the line-up for the first of two friendly games against Colchester on Tuesday (August 25).