Dean Smith: Chelsea won't be a distraction

Boss Dean Smith insists Walsall's players will not be distracted by their glamour tie against Chelsea when they take on Peterborough tomorrow.

For the second game in succession, the Saddlers take on a managerless side when they head to London Road looking to make it four straight away wins in League One.

If they do succeed, Smith's men could move back to the top of the table.

And it's that prize that is keeping the players focused despite the Capital One Cup tie against Chelsea being just around the corner.

"The complete focus is on Peterborough," Smith said.

"It's about going and winning the game there – I won't start thinking about Chelsea until I need to.

"The players are fully focused, and our start in the league has helped with that – they can see where we will end up if we keeping winning games.

"We've spoken about the Chelsea game, we have had to because there's been a lot of interest in it.

"But the players know the prize that is potentially available by winning tomorrow. They are fully focused."

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Walsall will be without new boy Isaiah Osbourne for the game who has been ruled out for a week with a knee injury.

Otherwise, the Saddlers are at full strength with Smith anticipating an open and entertaining game.

"We played Doncaster last week and they didn't have a permanent manager and now we find ourselves in the same situation against Peterborough," he said.

"It was a very early casualty (the sacking of Dave Robertson) and it's not nice to see anyone lose their job.

"But they got a reaction last week and had that resounding 5-1 win at Oldham.

"It's always difficult to know what to expect when a manager has gone, but after that sort of result you get a good idea.

I can't see Peterborough sitting back against us which will make for an exciting game."