Peterborough vs Wycombe betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and EFL Trophy final preview
Football betting tips: EFL Trophy final
1pt Wycombe to win (in 90 minutes) at 3/1 (BoyleSports)
0.5pt Josh Knight to score anytime at 12/1 (bet365)
The 43rd instalment of the EFL Trophy final takes place at Wembley on Sunday afternoon with Peterborough, winners of the competition once previously in 2014, taking on first-time finalists Wycombe Wanderers.
Wycombe have been a Football League staple for more than three decades now but were actually playing their football in the Isthmian Premier when this competition began life back in 1981.
Peterborough are chasing glory on two fronts this term, almost assured of a Sky Bet League One play-off spot in what seems almost a minimum requirement for Posh when they reside in the third tier, while Wycombe are treading water in mid-table.
What are the best bets?
Now, Peterborough are warm favourites for this final, due, no doubt, to that disparity in league positions but Wycombe thrashed them 5-2 just a few weeks back and also did the double over Posh last term.
The Chairboys come into this in decent nick, eight wins in their past 14 being the equal of their loftier opposition, and I think they are being underestimated in the markets here.
This final, basically, is their season. They will be able to give absolutely everything with no fear about the remaining weeks of the campaign while there's the chance Posh might not be able to shake the subconscious feeling they have bigger fish to fry.
I can't let the 3/1 on WYCOMBE TO WIN (inside 90 minutes) go unbacked, the leap from 7/4 on them to lift the trophy by any means (i.e. in extra time or on penalties) enough for me to risk the higher price.
Nonetheless, this is also one of those occasions where there's a need to balance that gamble by finding a Posh pick too in case Darren Ferguson's side produce a performance to reflect the nine-place and 23-point gap between the teams.
Posh's ex-Leicester City academy graduate JOSH KNIGHT spent a season on loan at Wycombe in 2020-21 and we know how often former players come back to haunt their old sides.
The centre-back has netted five in his past 22 games for Posh which makes the 12/1 on him TO SCORE ANYTIME look worth a small stake in a final that could yield plenty of goals (see match facts below).
BuildABet @100/1
- Knight to score anytime
- Wycombe to lift trophy
- Both teams to score in first half
CLICK HERE to back with Sky Bet
Where Peterborough go, goals tend to follow. This should be an open final and we can expect fireworks from the off.
Team news
Wycombe have worries over the availability of midfielder Josh Scowen who went off towards the end of the first half of their goalless draw at Blackpool on Monday with a contact injury.
Peterborough have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the final.
Predicted line-ups
Peterborough: Steer; Katongo, Edwards, Knight, Burrows; Kyprianou, Collins; Ajiboye, Poku, Mason-Clark; Jones.
Wycombe: Ravizzoli; McCarthy, Low, Forino, Leahy; Potts, Butcher; Wheeler, Taylor, Campbell; Lubala.
Match facts
- Peterborough United are winless across their last five meetings with Wycombe Wanderers in all competitions (D2 L3), conceding 14 goals across those games; including a 2-2 home draw and 5-2 away defeat in League One this season.
- Since Wycombe Wanderers’ first EFL season in 1993-94, there have been 112 goals scored across the 30 meetings in all competitions between the Chairboys and Peterborough United, at an average of 3.7 goals per game – that’s the highest rate of any fixture to be played as often in that time.
- Peterborough have won all three of their previous games at Wembley, the joint-best 100%-win record at the stadium alongside Morecambe, Woking and Whitley Bay. Posh won the 1992 third-tier play-off final, the 2000 fourth-tier play-off final and the 2014 EFL Trophy final.
- Wycombe have won four of their six matches at Wembley (L2 - one on pens), their two most recent visits in League One play-off finals, beating Oxford 2-1 in 2020 and losing to Sunderland 2-0 in 2022. With this set to be their third Wembley visit since 2020, the Chairboys will have played there more often than any other non-Premier League team in that period.
- Excluding the covid-impacted Salford City win in 2019-20, each of the last five winners of the EFL Trophy have finished in at least the play-off spots of their league, though only Rotherham United went on to be promoted in the same season with the Millers winning automatic promotion to the Championship after finishing second in League One.
- Peterborough United have won six of their seven EFL Trophy games this season (L1), scoring 2+ goals in each victory; only Reading (20) and Bolton (18) have scored more goals than the Posh (16) in the competition this season.
- Wycombe Wanderers have won all seven of their matches in the EFL Trophy this season and could become just the sixth team to lift the trophy whilst also winning 100% of their games after Birmingham City (1994-95), Wigan Athletic (1998-99), Stoke City (1999-00), Blackpool (2003-04) and Wrexham (2004-05).
- No player has been directly involved in or assisted more EFL Trophy goals this season than Peterborough’s Ephron Mason-Clark (3 goals, 4 assists), whose seven goals and assists have came across just four starts in the competition this term.
- Joe Jacobson scored and assisted on Wycombe's most recent visit to Wembley in the 2020 League One play-off final and the 37-year-old could become the oldest scorer at the venue since Kevin Phillips in May 2013 for Crystal Palace versus Watford (39y, 306d).
Odds correct at 1645 BST (04/02/24)
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