Pompey look to get back to winning ways when they visit Cambridge's Abbey Stadium tomorrow.
Team News
Jayden Stockley is Pompey's latest injury casualty after he returned to parent club Bournemouth during the week to treat his ankle injury sustained during the goalless draw with Yeovil. Brian Murphy may return to the squad but Aaron McCarey will start in goal again.
Goalkeeper Chris Dunn will miss out on tomorrow's match with a groin strain with full back Elliot Omozusi also missing thanks to a tight hamstring.
The Match
It almost sounds perverse to be looking forward to an away match when supporting Pompey but after two disappointing results at Fratton Park tomorrow's trip to Cambridge represents a good chance to return to winning ways.
Richard Money's men were tipped to challenge for promotion at the start of the season but so far they have been very disappointing, losing at home 3-0 to Crawley and 3-1 to Luton at the Abbey earlier this season.
Cambridge are not a team that like to "park the bus" and should at least try and play football against Pompey, which may well play into Paul Cook's hands. Having said that, the attacking players will need to sharpen up after so many poor deliveries against Yeovil last weekend and so the Pompey manager may well make changes with Conor Chaplin and Kal Naismith both ready to come into the side.
However, this match may well come down to which striker has the better day against opposition they love to play against.
Matt Tubbs has a ridiculously good scoring record against the U's having scored nine goals in eight games against them, including a hat-trick in the 6-2 mauling of Cambridge last time out. He is likely to start tomorrow's match given the absence of Jayden Stockley and Adam McGurk but can he make an impact in the 4-2-3-1 formation.
On the other hand, Barry Corr snubbed Pompey for Cambridge in the summer and has been a constant thorn in our side for Southend in the previous two seasons. It'll be interesting to see how Pompey's new defence copes with him.
Overall, Cambridge cannot defend very well and in a more open game you would back Portsmouth to come away with all three points so long as Tubbs gets the service he requires and the midfield does its job properly.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Cambridge
GK: Sam BEASANT
RB: George TAFT
CB: Mark ROBERTS
CB: Leon LEGG
LB: Greg TAYLOR
RM: Ryan DONALDSON
CM: Jeff HUGHES
CM: Mickey DEMETRIOU
CM: Liam HUGHES
LM: Harrison DUNK
CF: Barry CORR
Pompey
GK: Aaron McCAREY
RB: Ben DAVIES
CB: Christian BURGESS
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Adam BARTON
RM: Gary ROBERTS
AM: Conor CHAPLIN
LM: Kyle BENNETT
CF: Matt TUBBS
Last Time: Cambridge United 2 Portsmouth 6 (League Two - 21/02/2015)
A truly memorable match for any Pompey fan lucky to witness it. The rout began after just two minutes when Jed Wallace scored only for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to equalise. Two goals from Matt Tubbs either side of a Paul Robinson strike saw Andy Awford's men lead 4-1 at half-time.
Robbie Simpson pulled one back as the hosts had a spell of possession but some comical defending allowed Ryan Taylor to score a fifth and then Tubbs completed his hat-trick by tapping in a sixth goal to complete a remarkable performance from a side that had only scored six league goals away from home prior to that thrashing.
My Prediction
If Cambridge are as poor as some of their fans say they are then we should be looking to take all three points here.
Cambridge United 1 Portsmouth 2