The challenge in a game against Posh is to keep their frontline quiet, because they can tear you apart if you don’t. Darren Ferguson’s fourth spell in the Peterborough hotseat has seen them record nine wins in 14 league matches, a run that has taken the Cambridgeshire outfit right up to the edge of the play-off places.

Oxford United are in a perilous position. The U’s sit just two points above the League One relegation zone and are currently thankful for the four teams below looking as incapable of picking up wins as they are. The decision to loan out prolific goalscorer Matty Taylor to Port Vale looks all the more confusing week-on-week as the Oxford frontline fails to deliver, and little wonder as their only natural striker fit to play at present is 18-year-old Gatlin O’Donkor.

Since winning at Fleetwood Town back on the 14th January, Oxford United have only scored twice in away matches, both coming against fellow relegation battlers in the form of Milton Keynes Dons and most recently Morecambe.

Peterborough United have the opportunity to end this weekend sat inside the play-off places for the first time since the middle of December, and are rightfully favoured against an Oxford United team in deep trouble. Posh have attacking quality and confidence that the U’s could only dream of possessing, and the London Road crowd will be expecting their team to make that added killer edge count. A fourth win in a row and a fifth win in six will leave League One even more frightened of Peterborough United than they likely already are.

These are the two teams to have been involved in the most matches this LaLiga season in which both teams have scored, as this has happened in 73% of Girona matches and in 73% of Espanyol matches too.

Both sides play attack-minded football, which sees them score a lot and concede a lot. On average, each Girona game produces 3.12 goals this season, the highest average in all of LaLiga, while each game Espanyol are involved in is producing 2.85, the third-most in the division.

We shouldn’t expect anything different this weekend and it wouldn’t be a surprise if this match turns out to be just as entertaining as their 2-2 draw was earlier in the season.

Espanyol striker Joselu is in good form, with five goals in nine games since the World Cup and a brace on his Spain debut last Saturday, while Girona have a more collective attack but are really starting to unlock the offensive brilliance of January signing Viktor Tsyhankov, who scored both their goals in their 2-2 draw at Rayo Vallecano just before the international break.

Paulo Gazzaniga and Fernando Pacheco are two of the weaker goalkeepers in the competition and both will likely be picking the ball out of their nets this Saturday.

Charlton Athletic have not kept a clean sheet in their last five matches in the third tier, which includes taking on Accrington Stanley, Cambridge United and Morecambe, three of the bottom four.

The only game in their last five that did not feature both sides scoring was a 2-0 defeat by league leaders Plymouth, whilst the visiting Shrews have seen both sides score in three of their last four, the exception also being a 2-0 defeat, this time at the hands of third-placed Ipswich.

The Addicks have seen both teams score in 63% of their matches this season, 24 of 38, and hosting Shrewsbury Town could provide some end of season entertainment, even if the most optimistic of visiting supporters will not yet believe the play-offs are over for them.

Both Charlton and the Shrews have conceded in their last four games respectively, and the visitors will be without Tom Bayliss, George Nurse and Dan Udoh in when they head to the Valley.

Charlton have been reliable in provoking action in both boxes this season and with Miles Leaburn back in the side, having had injury ups and downs this term, they are far more potent in the attacking third.

Reading have been woeful away from home this year. Though the Royals did manage to bag their first goal away from home in 2023 before the international break at Blackburn, they should already have been multiple goals down as Rovers wasted their chances to build a lead. Even so, when presented with an opportunity they should not have had, Reading still found a way to concede a late goal and continue their ghastly run of away defeats, now six in a row.

It is not just an unlucky run of results though. Over the last ten away matches Reading average a deficit of 1xG per match. In other words, they are, on average conceding chances worth 1xG more than they are able to create.

Bristol City are probably one of the first clubs to confirm that they will be playing Championship football next season. Often it is perceived as something of a negative that they have nothing to play for, but sometimes the sides in a safe midtable position can remove the shackles and play with a bit more freedom. If Nigel Pearson’s side do this then they certainly have the players capable of hurting the opposition.

Though City lost their last two before the international break, they were away from home. Nigel Pearson’s men are unbeaten in six Championship games at home, winning four of those, and none of them have been again a team as poor as Reading on the road.

European football is still a possibility for Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen after they beat then leaders Bayern Munich 2-1 prior to the international break.

No team has scored fewer than Schalke (21) this season, whilst they’ve also conceded the most goals at home (28). Coming into this game following a morale-boosting win against Bayern Munich, expect to see Alonso’s Leverkusen continuing to develop.

Bayer Leverkusen have won 6 of their last 7 games across all competitions. They perhaps had a bit of luck against Bayern Munich with two penalties, that originally weren’t awarded until consultation with VAR, but the pace of Moussa Diaby and Jeremie Frimpong proved a threat. It’s a duo that has the ability to cause Schalke problems.

The emergence of Robert Andrich as a Libero has benefitted the team and it also allows Exequiel Palacios to shuttle between the boxes. Florian Wirtz is slowly getting back to his best and Bayer Leverkusen are continuing to improve.

Schalke have certainly improved from a terrible start to the season, but whether they will have enough to take points from a confident Leverkusen side in full flow remains to be seen. They did snatch a point from high-flying Dortmund at home, but as that game is a fierce local derby, there will be much less at stake for Schalke here.

Bayer Leverkusen have won their last three against Schalke and typically have a good record against the Royal Blues. Schalke may score, but I fancy B04 to outscore their opponents on Saturday afternoon. Alonso’s side also have an excellent away record with just 1 defeat in their last 8 games away from the BayArena. I feel comfortable backing Bayer Leverkusen for the win here.