'If those four play every game' - Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony offers incredible assessment of Posh's forward line ahead of Blackpool visit

‘The best front four in the EFL’ await Blackpool on their trip to Peterborough on Saturday.

That’s according to Posh co-owner and chairman Darragh MacAnthony, who is relishing the prospect of seeing his so-called ‘Fab four’ back together for the visit of the Seasiders.

The attacking quartet - who have a combined total of 31 League One goals and 21 assists between them this season - haven’t played together since Peterborough’s 2-1 win at Charlton on January 13. That Valley victory took Darren Ferguson’s side up into the top two - a point behind leaders Portsmouth with a game in hand.

Since then, however, the Posh have won just once and head into Saturday’s Blackpool game on the back of three straight defeats - againsr Wigan, Exeter and Wycombe respectively. They also now sit fifth in the current League One standings, - 13 points behind Portsmouth, who remain top, and just three above seventh-placed Stevenage, who find themselves out of the play-off positions.

Poku, who has eight goals and seven assists in the third tier this season, has missed all of those league games because of an ankle injury. Meanwhile, Mason-Clark - who has 10 League One goals this season and five assists - was absent for Peterborough’s 5-2 humbling at the hands of Wycombe on Saturday.

Both wingers were due to be reunited with fellow attackers Joel Randall and Ricky-Jades Jones for Tuesday night’s visit of Port Vale, only for that game to be called off due to a waterlogged pitch at London Road.

A reunion has now been pencilled in for the visit of Neil Critchley’s side. And with MacAnthony keen to put his side’s poor recent run behind him, he enthused at the prospect of having his first-choice attack back and available for selection.

Speaking on his The Hard Truth podcast, the Irishman said: ‘We’ve just had a shocking seven days which can happen. In fact in every promotion season we’ve had there has been a sticky patch and we just need to clean little things up.

‘We lost to Wigan and we shouldn’t have done and we lost at Exeter when we shouldn’t have done. Across those two games we had 50-odd shots. We weren’t ourselves at Wycombe without the best two wingers in League One. We went away from our formation for a game and it didn’t work, but we can’t keep looking back because there is so much good going on.

‘All I would ask of the team is to be “us”. I’m all-in on this season because I love this team and I love watching them play. We have the best front four in the EFL and we’ve only been beaten once when they’ve all started - in their first game together at Portsmouth. If those four play every game we win 90 per cent of them.’

MacAthony added: ‘It is what it is but the good news is that Ephron is fit, Kwame Poku’s now fit. For that game (against Port Vale), there would have been a few changes because players are tired but now, in hindsight, they’re all fully fit, touch wood, for Saturday.

‘You’d like to see our front four get a run together again. The last time they played together was Charlton when we destroyed them. We won 2-1. God willing, they all stay fit for the run-in because if they stay fit for the run-in then we’ve got a great chance.’

Posh boss Darren Ferguson will be serving a two-match ban for Blackpool’s visit to the Weston Homes Stadium. The Seasiders head into the fixture without a win in their past four league games. Fifteen-goal top-scorer Jordan Rhodes has missed three of those outings and is unlikely to feature against Peterborough, either, as he recovers from a rib injury.