Peterborough United's route out of the relegation zone between now and New Year's Day

Peterborough United appear to have a great chance of shooting up the League One table by the end of the Christmas and New Year fixtures.

Providing of course, they can turn around a dreadful start to the season which sees them bottom of the table after just two wins and eight defeats in their opening 11 matches.

Joel Randall scores for Posh in a 5-1 win over Blackpool last October. Photo David Lowndes.

placeholder image — Joel Randall scores for Posh in a 5-1 win over Blackpool last October. Photo David Lowndes.

Many are looking at the next two Posh games against fellow bottom four dwellers Burton Albion (away, October 18) and Blackpool (home, October 25) as huge games, especially those with a keen interest in manager Darren Ferguson’s immediate future.

But Posh have 12 scheduled fixtures between the Burton game and the New Year’s Day trip to Rotherham United and only 3 are against teams in the current top half of the table.

And two of those are against teams who won promotion from League Two last season, AFC Wimbledon and Doncaster Rovers. The Thursday night home game against Stockport County (November 20) appears to the toughest fixture in the run to New Year's Day by some distance, although some form lines will undoubtedly change between now and then.

The scheduled trip to Mansfield Town on Saturday, November 15 could well be postponed because of international call-ups. Worryingly New Zealand have scheduled friendlies in South America on November 16 and November 19 which could leave Posh midfielder Matthew Garbett with a decision to make, unless the Stockport game, which has been brought forward for live TV coverage, is covered by international break rules.

Posh upcoming games:

October

18 Burton (away)

25 Blackpool (home).

November

8 AFC Wimbledon (home)

14 Mansfield (away)

20 Stockport (home)

29 Doncaster (away)

December

9 Reading (away)

13 Northampton (home)