Wimbledon's lack of goals is no joke

Sky Bet League One
Sky Sports Football, 2.30pm Sunday

The joke around Wimbledon Village goes that their manager is called Neal for a reason and Ardley's men may suffer another loss to nil against Peterborough.

On expected goals ratings AFC Wimbledon are seen as an unfortunate team but that cannot be continually tolerated as an excuse for scoring just nine times in 16 league matches.

Ardley's side battled well in their last Sky Bet League One outing - a 1-0 defeat at Charlton - but failed to manage a shot on target and so the boss tried to be more aggressive in last week's FA Cup clash with Lincoln.

Their 4-1-4-1 formation was ditched in favour of 4-4-2 and Ardley was rewarded with an early goal from Lyle Taylor as the Wombles ran out 1-0 victors but the match-winner was substituted because of injury.

Ardley refused to rule Taylor out of the game but his dead leg won't be easy to run off and it would be a big blow to lose their three-goal top goalscorer, particularly as two-goal Kwesi Appiah is injured.

All nine of Wimbledon's league losses this season have been to nil and they don't appear to have any answers when falling behind. It shouldn't come as a major shock - Ardley is working on a tiny budget - but they are struggling to make any kind of attacking impact.

Peterborough are not the most reliable of teams to follow at the best of times and are not known for their clean-sheet mentality, but last month's 1-0 win over Shrewsbury was a step in the right direction.

Recommendation
Peterborough to win to nil
1pt 9-2 bet365, Paddy Power, Sky Bet

Bet on this game at Soccerbase.com

Team news
AFC Wimbledon
Lyle Taylor is rated doubtful and Kwesi Appiah is out.

Peterborough
Ricky Miller won't be considered for selection and Junior Morias is injured. Alex Penny returns to the squad.

Key stat
All nine of AFC Wimbledon's league defeats this season have been to nil.

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