Team News
Papa Bouba Diop will be missing for around six weeks with a hamstring injury and joins Hermann Hreidarsson and Steve Finnan on the sidelines. Angelos Basinas should take Diop's place in midfield whilst Paul Hart should once again give Anthony Vanden Borre a chance after a lacklustre debut on Wednesday.
Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky are the big name absentees from Arsenal but Arsene Wenger may rest Robin van Persie and give Eduardo Da Silva a game.
The Match
Like most Pompey fans, I'm more interested in who is going to buy the club rather than the formality that should be a Gooner victory tomorrow. This is one game I just want to get out of the way because they could tear us apart going on early season form.
The Gunners have scored 8 goals in two games whereas we have scored none, although the two goals we have conceded can be considered to be very unlucky.
The only real hope we have in this match is if Mokoena, Basinas and Mullins rough up the Arsenal midfield so much that their performances are affected. Our defence is also going to have to be pretty much perfect and we'll have to take the one or two chances that we're going to get if we can even fathom an unlikely victory.
Set-pieces are going to be extremely crucial for us so it's imperative that Niko Kranjcar gets them spot on because I can't see how else we're going to cause the Arsenal defence any real problems otherwise.
With Burnley beating Manchester United on Wednesday you never know what might happen but you would have to be a very brave man to bet on us tomorrow. I just want to see a gutsy performance and as little goals scored against us as possible.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Arsenal
GK: Manuel ALMUNIA
RB: Bacary SAGNA
CB: Thomas VERMAELEN
CB: William GALLAS
LB: Gael CLICHY
CM: DENILSON
CM: Cesc FABREGAS
CM: Alexandre SONG
RWF: Niklas BENDTNER
LWF: Andrei ARSHAVIN
CF: EDUARDO Da Silva
Pompey
GK: David JAMES
RB: Marc WILSON
CB: Younes KABOUL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Nadir BELHADJ
RM: Anthony VANDEN BORRE
CM: Angelos BASINAS
CM: Aaron MOKOENA
CM: Hayden MULLINS
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: Frederic PIQUIONNE
Last Time: Arsenal 1 Portsmouth 0
Tony Adams returned to the club where he achieved legendary status and almost escaped with a point until the 81st minute when David James missed the ball from a free kick which allowed William Gallas to head into an empty net.
Pundit Watch
Lawro: Home Win (2-0)
Sky Sports: Home Win (3-0)
Soccernet: Home Win
My Prediction: We will try and stifle things but Arsenal will simply be too good for us.
Arsenal 3 Portsmouth 0