Peterborough United manager is confident constant transfer speculation won’t affect Ivan Toney’s form as Posh chase a third straight League One win

Ivan Toney of Peterborough United celebrates with the match ball after scoring a hat-trick at Accrington Stanley last season.

Toney will lead the Posh forward line in tonight’s (January 28) League One fixture at Accrington Stanley amid speculation that a dozen Championship clubs have their eye on the 23 year-old.

The deadline for transfers is 11pm this Friday (January 31) and Ferguson is confident his top scorer will be playing for Posh, who are fifth, in a big game at current leaders Ipswich the following day.

“The owners don’t want to sell Ivan and they won’t,” Ferguson stated. “Obviously if a completley ridiculous offer to a League One club comes in common sense might take over, but I doubt it will happen.

Ivan Toney of Peterborough United in action against Accrington Stanley this season.

“And Ivan is a model professional as well as the best striker in League One. He just gets on with his work.

“Ivan has improved in my 12 months at the club. He’s more aggressive, his hold-up play is better and he is also an excellent defender of set-pieces. He’s just a complete all-rounder and we are lucky to have him.”

Toney scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Accrington last season, but Ferguson is not anticipating an easy game at the Crown Ground this time around.

Ferguson will check on the fitness of players who have not seen much action this season, like Sammie Szmodics, Nathan Thompson and Reece Brown, but he likely to name an unchanged side for the bid to win three matches in a row, unless he decides to start with Josh Knight in midfield.

Posh are also seeking a first away win since October 19.

“We have to start picking up away wins again,” Ferguson added. “Our home form has been excellent, but alone that won’t get us up.

“It’s usually a hard game at Accrington. They will have a go at us and we must be ready for that. We will try and play the same way we did against Rotherham. I enjoyed that performance and I enjoyed the atmosphere. We need to bottle all of that for the rest of the season.

“We’ve set new standards now. We will need the same determination and desire we showed in the Rotherham match at Accrington to keep the run going. We look strong and we look fresh. I trust the players who have just come back into the first team to tell me if they are not 100 per cent and we do now have a strong-looking bench.”

Posh had sold just 8-0 advance tickets for tonight’s match.