Pompey will be looking to cause a minor upset in the League Cup tomorrow evening by defeating League One side Peterborough United at Fratton Park.
Team News
Andy Awford is likely to make changes to the side that faced Exeter with Paul Robinson and Alex Wynter possible candidates to start the match. Joe Devera and Ricky Holmes could also be back in contention following injuries.
Posh manager Darren Ferguson could also make changes for the match with Gabriel Zakuani already out having suffered a hamstring injury in his team's win over Rochdale on Saturday. Jon Taylor was also injured in that match and is rated doubtful.
The Match
The League Cup has never been a competition that has been kind to Pompey. They've never made it beyond the quarter-final stage with a 3-0 hammering by lower division Watford in 2004 sticking in the mind not long after Harry Redknapp's first departure.
The last three seasons has seen Pompey dumped out of this competition at the first hurdle. A narrow defeat to Bournemouth last year was preceded by the youth team being beaten 3-0 at Plymouth and the year before that saw an embarrassing exit to Barnet at Fratton Park. Therefore it'd be safe to say that expectations are fairly low heading into this match.
Peterborough are one of the promotion favourites in League One despite losing top scorer Britt Assombalonga to Nottingham Forest and they'll be a tough nut to crack.
Players to keep an eye on are right back Michael Smith who was voted the best right back in League Two last season despite playing for relegated Bristol Rovers whilst Nathaniel Mendez-Laing seems to perform far better for his parent club than he ever did for Portsmouth during a loan spell a couple of seasons ago.
As for the Pompey team, it wouldn't be surprising to see Wynter and Robinson given a chance in defence whilst Nigel Atangana and Miles Storey could start after making an impact at Exeter when they came on.
Whoever plays, let's hope for a repeat of the second half performance on Saturday rather than the first half.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Paul JONES
RB: Alex WYNTER
CB: Paul ROBINSON
CB: Jack WHATMOUGH
LB: Nicky SHOREY
RM: Miles STOREY
CM: James DUNNE
CM: Danny HOLLANDS
LM: Jed WALLACE
CF: Craig WESTCARR
CF: Ryan TAYLOR
Peterborough
GK: Ben ALNWICK
RB: Michael SMITH
CB: Michael BOSTWICK
CB: Jack BALDWIN
LB: Kgosi NITHE
RM: Nathaniel MENDEZ-LAING
CM: Jermaine ANDERSON
CM: Jack PAYNE
LM: Kenneth McAVOY
CF: Kyle VASSELL
CF: Conor WASHINGTON
Last Time: Portsmouth 2 Peterborough United 3 (Championship - 17/09/2011)
Pompey got off to the worst possible start as Jamie Ashdown fumbled Lee Frecklington's shot into his own net but Posh scored an own goal themselves when Zakuani volleyed an Erik Huseklepp cross past the current Pompey first choice keeper in Paul Jones.
Frecklington scored again but Benjani scored his only goal of his second Pompey spell to equalise in the second half but there was a cruel twist of fate as Huseklepp, who score a last-gasp stunner a few days prior to beat Blackpool, put the ball through his own net at the death to gift Posh the three points.
My Prediction
There are usually upsets at this early stage of the cup but I feel that Peterborough's attack might be too savvy for a League Two defence which isn't exactly watertight. Saturday's match is far more important.
Portsmouth 1 Peterborough United 2