Team News
Michael Brown and Tommy Smith should go straight into the team for their debuts but Kevin-Prince Boateng, Jamie O'Hara and Aruna Dindane have signed too late to be registered in time for the game.
It looks like Aaron Mokoena could be moved to centre back to replace Sylvain Distin whilst Steve Finnan, Hermann Hreidarsson and Papa Bouba Diop are all still injured. David James has recovered from his hand injury and will face his former club.
Roque Santa Cruz, Michael Johnson and Vincent Kompany are all missing for City but otherwise Mark Hughes has an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
The Match
After notching up their first win of the season against a team that had an attack that consisted of Tristan Plummer and Leon Constantine, Pompey must now deal with Carlos Tevez, Robinho and Emmanuel Adebayor.
City have had a decent start to the season and haven't conceded a goal in their two league games against Blackburn and Wolves so far whilst Adebayor has also started his City career with a couple of goals already. Our defence are going to be in for a tough time trying to deal with so many threats.
As mentioned in "The Opposition View", Danny said that most teams could open City up by doubling up on Wayne Bridge because Robinho didn't help out defensively and that was shown when Glen Johnson and Younes Kaboul worked on that weakness and spurred Pompey on to a 2-0 win.
I think Hart will try and do the same thing this season but without Johnson it will be much tougher. But this is a stage for the new boys in Smith and Brown to really make an impression and now Piquionne has notched up his first goal in English football, he may be able to grab his first league goal tomorrow.
This is going to be very tough and I can't see us winning. However, it is very important we don't lose this one and for some reason, despite all their talent, I can't see City beating us. I hope that is not a misguided view because another defeat will see us well on the way to the Championship.
Unfortunately this is my final article for a week as I'm off to Ibiza! I'm hoping to catch the match in a bar and here is hoping I'm partying with Joy on Sunday evening rather than drowning my sorrows!
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Portsmouth
GK: David JAMES
RB: Marc WILSON
CB: Younes KABOUL
CB: Aaron MOKOENA
LB: Nadir BELHADJ
RM: Tommy SMITH
CM: Michael BROWN
CM: Hayden MULLINS
CM: Richard HUGHES
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: Frederic PIQUIONNE
Manchester City
GK: Shay GIVEN
RB: Micah RICHARDS
CB: Kolo TOURE
CB: Joeleon LESCOTT
LB: Wayne BRIDGE
CM: Nigel DE JONG
CM: Gareth BARRY
CM: Stephen IRELAND
RWF: Carlos TEVEZ
LWF: ROBINHO
CF: Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
Last Time: Portsmouth 2 Manchester City 0
Paul Hart's first game in charge of Pompey ended in victory after Glen Johnson scored a great goal after his run into the box and Hermann Hreidarsson scored a header to register our first win in nine games following Tony Adams' departure.
Pundit Watch
Lawro: Away Win (1-2)
Soccernet: Away Win
My Prediciton: Losing four in a row would be a disaster and for that (really bad) logic alone I'm going for a draw as I can't see us beating such a good team in our current state.
Portsmouth 1 Manchester City 1