Pompey travel to Turf Moor tomorrow still in search of their first away win of the season.
Team News
Liam Lawrence may be fit enough to contend for a first team place tomorrow whilst Hayden Mullins should be fit despite limping off against Coventry last week.
Charlie Austin and Martin Paterson, a player so close to joining Pompey in the summer, may be fit for a place on the bench but Jay Rodriguez and Sam Vokes should start up front for the Clarets.
The Match
Michael Appleton has said that he will change Pompey's approach as he looks to improve their terrible record on the road, having not won away from Fratton Park since beating Leicester back in March.
However, this fixture has probably come at the wrong time for us as Burnley have just got their act together and go into this game on the back of three straight wins, the last being an impressive victory over West Ham at Upton Park.
I expect we'll try and keep things tight and play more conservatively than normal as 'Appy plans to stop wingers Keith Treacy and Junior Stanislas doing some damage.
However, if I was in charge I would be asking for more of what we saw against Coventry last week and that we should really make an effort to attack Burnley's fragile back four at every opportunity.
For too long now, whether it was at Hull, Leeds or Watford, Pompey have attempted to play the containment game and have failed to register any significant efforts on goal.
As someone who spends a vast amount of money travelling the country to watch this team, it has become increasingly frustrating to see our players keep the ball, do nothing with it and then get put on the back foot.
I'm personally not going tomorrow but for the loyal fans who do, I would hope the players just simply have a go at the Clarets because they play an open game of football, so hopefully we can match that and get a result.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Burnley
GK: Lee GRANT
RB: Keiran TRIPPIER
CB: Michael DUFF
CB: David EDGAR
LB: Ben MEE
RM: Junior STANISLAS
CM: Chris McCANN
CM: Marvin BARTLEY
LM: Keith TREACY
CF: Jay RODRIGUEZ
CF: Sam VOKES
Pompey
GK: Stephen HENDERSON
RB: Greg HALFORD
CB: Ricardo ROCHA
CB: Jason PEARCE
LB: Joe MATTOCK
RM: Liam LAWRENCE
CM: Hayden MULLINS
CM: George THORNE
CM: David NORRIS
LM: Erik HUSEKLEPP
CF: Dave KITSON
Last Time: Burnley 1 Portsmouth 1 (Championship - 21/04/2011)
Former Claret loanee David Nugent gave Pompey the lead in the first half with an angled drive but we would be denied victory as Chris Eagles equalised on 74 minutes for a share of the spoils.
My Prediction
I'm not optimistic in truth. Our away record is terrible whilst Burnley have hit a purple patch, so I can only see yet another defeat on the road.
Burnley 2 Portsmouth 0