Peterborough United will fight fire with fire in their big promotion battle

Posh centre-back Rhys Bennett is back in contention for a starting place at Luton.

Peterborough United will fight fire with fire in their big League One promotion battle at Luton on Saturday (January 19).

Posh boss Steve Evans is a big admirer of the free-scoring Hatters, but he won’t be intimidated by a talented team or their unbeaten home record.

Evans does not believe they will be adversely affected by the sudden departure of successful manager Nathan Jones last week.Luton are not expected to replace Jones before their game against Posh.

Posh are currently sixth in League One, four places and six points behind Luton who have not lost a League One match since October 13.

Posh striker Matt Godden is battling to shrug off a knee injury.

“The way they play and the results they’ve achieved means they demand respect,” Evans said. “They are a top side with top players, but then so are we.

“We won’t be going there to frustrate them. We will be going there to try and win a very important game.

“The loss of their manager won’t affect them. I watched them on Tuesday and they played very well even though they lost. This is a tough game for us, but it’s also a tough game for them.”

Posh are expecting to sell out their allocation of just over 1,000 tickets for the game at Kenilworth Road.

Evans has a fully fit squad to pick from as long as striker Matt Godden recovers from the knee complaint that kept him out of a 2-1 friendly win for the reserves at Northampton on Tuesday.

Evans is mulling over recalls to the starting line-up for centre-backs Rhys Bennett and Ben White as well as combative midfielder Alex Woodyard.

The return of White would enable Jason Naismith to move back to right-back in place of Joe Ward should Evans prioritise a more defensive back four against League One’s top scorers.