Pompey vs Birmingham Preview

After the euphoria of beating Manchester United at on Saturday, attention now turns back to the Premier League as Birmingham City visit Fratton Park.

If Pompey win it will take us to 7th in the table after Man City and Birmingham dropped points during the weekend and would set us up nicely for our crunch game with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Should we fail to win I believe our league season will be over in terms of qualifying for Europe as we would be too far behind Everton who currently occupy fifth place in the league and are 12 points clear of Pompey.

Harry Redknapp is likely to rest a few of the players who starred in that memorable win at Old Trafford so they are fresh for the Villa game which means that Sean Davis and Pedro Mendes may play whilst Lucien Aubey has a chance of featuring too.

Jermain Defoe will be restored to the side after being cup-tied and should partner Milan Baros up front as Kanu should also be rested. Richard Hughes will miss out with leg bruising thanks to a challenge by Wes Brown on Saturday. I wonder if Alex Ferguson has heard about that before he and his chum Carlos explain their comments to the FA?

For Birmingham Martin Taylor is still serving his ban after the Eduardo incident and Olivier Kapo is out with injury. I expect the Brummies to be unchanged following four games unbeaten.

The Blues are currently 17th in the league but have found some tenacity and form in recent games having drawn thrashed cup hungover Tottenham 4-1 and drawing with Arsenal. Alex McCleish has installed a bit of fight and belief in his side since our victory at St. Andrews but they still lack goals and could find it hard to break down our very stubborn defence.

After our cup exploits this could either be the best or worst time for Birmingham to play at Fratton Park.

The ground is going to be bouncing with songs about Wembley being sung and hopefully that can inspire the players to complete the double over Birmingham but on the other hand we, like Spurs, could feel the after-effects of such a dramatic cup tie on Saturday and with Birmingham scrapping for everything they can get you can be sure they'll make it difficult for us.

After all, nothing has been straightforward at Fratton Park this season!

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: David JAMES

RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Hermann HREIDARSSON

DM: Sean DAVIS
CM: Lassana DIARRA
CM: Pedro MENDES
LM: Niko KRANJCAR

CF: Jermain DEFOE
CF: Milan BAROS

Bench: Jamie ASHDOWN, Lucien AUBEY, Papa BOUBA DIOP, Sulley MUNTARI, KANU

Birmingham

GK: Maik TAYLOR

RB: Stephen KELLY
CB: Liam RIDGEWELL
CB: RaDHI JAIDI
LB: David MURPHY

RM: Sebastian LARSSON
CM: Fabrice MUAMBA
CM: Damien JOHNSON
LM: Gary McSHEFFEREY

SS: James McFADDEN
CF: Mikael FORSSELL

Bench: Colin DOYLE, Stuart PARNABY, Medhi NAFTI, Matias ZARATE, Cameron JEROME

Premiership Past: Pompey vs Birmingham City

03/04: Pompey 3 Birmingham City 1

Yakubu looked like putting Pompey ahead after slotting into an empty net thanks to Maik Taylor's handball outside the area. However, referee Barry Knight disallowed the goal and sent Taylor off as Dejan Stefanovic scored the resulting free kick.

Lomana LuaLua made it two in the second half after a mazy run and although Stern John pulled one back from close range, Yakubu made the game safe from the penalty spot after Kenny Cunningham handled in the area.

04/05: Pompey 1 Birmingham City 1

Birmingham took the lead thanks to an early Robbie Savage free kick but Pompey pulled level after David Unsworth fired in a penalty after Lazaridis shoved Steve Stone in the box and so the points ended up being shared on this opening day clash.

05/06: Pompey 1 Birmingham City 1

The home side took an early lead after LuaLua flicked in a low corner into the corner of the net but Steve Bruce's side replied almost immediately after Jiri Jarosik headed in Jermaine Pennant's cross. Nicky Butt was sent off for a blatant kick on Dario Silva but Pompey couldn't make the most of their man advantage.

Pundit Watch

Sky Sports: Draw (1-1)

My Prediction: Draw (0-0)