Portsmouth vs Notts County Preview

Last updated : 21 October 2016 By Jim Bonner

Pompey take on Notts County looking for a win to put a run of results together to keep pace at the top of League Two.

Team News

Matt Clarke wshould return after missing out the 2-2 draw at Plymouth with a dead leg. Adam Buxton, Noel Hunt and Drew Talbot have all returned to training and may be available for selection.

County's leading goalscorer Jon Stead will miss tomorrow's match with an ankle injury whilst former Manchester United and Leeds man Alan Smith is also out due to a hip problem.

The Match

Following four points from two tough away matches, the onus is now on Pompey to take maximum points from their next four league games, starting with the visit of John Sheridan's men to Fratton Park.

The Magpies lie 12th in the table but are only three points behind Pompey, which emphasises how tight League Two is at this point of the season. Regardless, Pompey will still be expected to put their opponents to the sword in front of their own fans.

Paul Cook will be happy that League Two's leading scorer in Jon Stead is missing whilst their defence is one of the worst in the league (unsurprising with Carl Dickinson playing at left back) - leaving them vulnerable to pace on the wings.

However, it should be stated that Pompey's own defence hasn't been great at home with just two clean sheets from six games. Plymouth highlighted the back four's weaknesses with some direct balls causing plenty of problems so hopefully Clarke is back to at least attempt to remedy that.

As the season has progressed the front four have become increasingly dynamic and it's safe to say that at least one of them will find the net tomorrow. So long as everyone continues to perform as they have done going forward then there should only be one result tomorrow.

And that's a good thing as failure to win will have undone the previous good work from the last two games and will again ask serious questions about Portsmouth's promotion credentials.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: David FORDE

RB: Gareth EVANS

CB: Christian BURGESS

CB: Matt CLARKE

LB: Enda STEVENS

DM: Michael DOYLE

DM: Amine LINGANZI

RM: Gary ROBERTS

AM: Carl BAKER

LM: Kyle BENNETT

CF: Conor CHAPLIN

Notts County

GK: Adam COLLIN

RB: Matt TOOTLE

CB: Richard DUFFY

CB: Louis LANG

LB: Carl DICKINSON

CM: Jordan RICHARDS

CM: Michael O'CONNOR

CM: Rob MILSOM

RWF: Aaron COLLINS

LWF: Jonathan FORTE

CF: Vadaine OLIVER

Last Time: Portsmouth 4 Notts County 0 (League Two - 25/03/2016)

Kye Bennett drilled the ball home just before half-time to get the home team going as the second half saw the same player score again before Christian Burgess headed in a third and Marc McNulty bagged a goal in stoppage time to complete the rout over dreadful County.

My Prediction

This should be a good game with both teams effective going forward but leaky at the back. A home win with both teams to score seems to be the best bet.

Portsmouth 3 Notts County 1