Cheltenham vs Portsmouth Preview

Last updated : 18 November 2016 By Jim Bonner

Pompey will be looking to record their third straight league win when they travel to Whaddon Road to take on struggling Cheltenham Town.

Team News

Paul Cook is likely to name an unchanged team from the side that started against Mansfield. Amine Linganzi serves the final match of his three-game-ban whilst Curtis Main is out with an abdominal injury.

Robins boss Gary Johnson is also likely to name an unchanged line-up from the side that thrashed Crewe 4-1 in Tuesday's FA Cup replay at Gresty Road. Midfielder Asa Hall is out with a an achilles problem.

The Match

All four matches between Portsmouth and Cheltenham have ended in stalemates but many Pompey fans, especially those who booed at Fratton Park last weekend, would see a draw as a bad result against a team that currently lies 21st in League Two.

However, winning this game may be tougher than it originally seems as the Robins have only lost one of their last ten games and the main reason they're near the bottom of the table is because they've drawn too many games. Doncaster aside, they've taken points from teams at the top of the table and thus, tomorrow's game will not be easy.

Having said that, Cheltenham have struggled to score goals in the league and Pompey have managed to keep clean sheets away from home against the more impotent sides in the division. It wouldn't be surprising if tomorrow's match lacked quality but Pompey's cutting edge up front allowed them to steal a goal and win 1-0 as in previous victories away from home this season.

Cheltenham's last result (the 4-1 thrashing of a competent League Two side in Crewe) may well be cause for concern amongst Blues fans but if Michael Doyle and Danny Rose play as well as they did against Mansfield, there's no chance that Paul Cook's men will concede four times.

The bottom line is that this is a game where the three points are there for the taking. With a tricky trip to Luton on the horizon, Pompey can't afford to slip up tomorrow.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Cheltenham

GK: Russell GRIFFITHS

CB: Rob DICKIE

CB: Dan PARSLOW

CB: Aaron DOWNES

RM: Jack BARTRAM

CM: Harry PELL

CM: James DAYTON

CM: Billy WATERS

LM: Dan O'SHAUGHNESSY

CF: Dan HOLMAN

CF: Danny WRIGHT

Pompey

GK: David FORDE

RB: Gareth EVANS

CB: Christian BURGESS

CB: Matt CLARKE

LB: Enda STEVENS

DM: Michael DOYLE

DM: Danny ROSE

RM: Gary ROBERTS

AM: Carl BAKER

LM: Kyle BENNETT

CF: Conor CHAPLIN

Last Time: Cheltenham Town 1 Portsmouth 1 (League Two - 20/12/2014)

Omari Sterling-James opened the scoring in the first half but his goal was cancelled out by Nigel Atangana's curler as both sides had to settle for a disappointing draw.

My Prediction

Cheltenham will make it difficult but they don't score many goals and are 21st in the league for a reason, so I fancy Pompey to nick this one like they have done in their previous away victories.

Cheltenham Town 0 Portsmouth 1