The image of Benjani in a City shirt is still a strange one to comprehend for many Pompey fans. It just doesn't look "right", does it? But I'm sure that he will do his best to remind us that his allegiances have changed come this weekend, although our favourite Zimbabwean has promised not to celebrate if he does (inevitably) find the net against us.
The other side of the story sees Sylvain Distin and David James return to the City of Manchester Stadium where hopefully they will play blinders and stop Sven's men from scoring. If they don't then they'll probably have shockers because when an player faces his former club he usually either plays out of his skin or has a mere.
It seems there's no real "middle ground" when a player faces his old employers. Look at Yakubu this season, he was awful at Fratton Park yet scored twice at Goodison for Everton. Matt Taylor missed two sitters for Bolton against us whilst Gary O'Neil set up Boro's winner at Fratton Park in December, so the precedent is there!
Whilst all eyes may be on the players who used to play for the opposition, Pompey will need to be wary of players like Martin Petrov and Elano who have caused many teams plenty of problems this season.
However, barring a fluke win at Sunderland last week, City have wobbled so much in 2008 that their owner is having a "Milan Mandaric" episode and is reviewing Sven Goran-Eriksson's position at the end of the season.
Eastlands isn't the fortress it was at the start of the campaign either with City only winning one out of their last eight home games. So, there's a real chance that we could record our first ever win at the City of Manchester Stadium and our tenth away victory in the league.
Our hosts will be missing the injured Micah Richards whilst Pompey have welcomed John Utaka, Lassana Diarra and Milan Baros back to training although it looks like only Baros will start the game, with the other two being eased back into action before the cup final.
Both teams have good defensive records and so I expect this to be a tight game with few chances. I'm expecting former players to make some sort of impact too, let's just hope that it's positive from our point of view as a win would really boost our chances of finishing fifth whilst defeat would see City get within touching distance of ourselves.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Man City
GK: Joe HART
RB: Sun JIHAI
CB: Richard DUNNE
CB: Vedran CORLUKA
LB: Michael BALL
RM: Stephen IRELAND
CM: Michael JOHNSON
CM: ELANO
CM: Gelson FERNANDES
LM: Martin PETROV
CF: BENJANI
Bench: Andreas ISAKSSON, GEOVANNI, Dietmar HAMANN, Darius VASSELL, Daniel STURRIDGE
Pompey
GK: David JAMES
RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Hermann HREIDARSSON
RM: Papa BOUBA DIOP
CM: Sean DAVIS
CM: Sulley MUNTARI
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: Milan BAROS
CF: Jermain DEFOE
Bench: Asmir BEGOVIC, LAUREN, Pedro MENDES, Lassana DIARRA, KANU
Last Time: Manchester City 0 Pompey 0
What would have been a forgettable game will now always be remembered for Ben Thatcher's horror challenge on Pedro Mendes that knocked him unconscious whilst Thatcher only received a yellow card. Pompey also should have had a penalty after Micah Richards' handball in the area but in the end we had to settle for a draw.
Pundit Watch
Lawro: Home Win (2-0)
Sky Sports: Home Win (3-1)
Soccernet: Home Win
Matt Le Tissier: Draw (1-1)
My Prediction: Draw (1-1)