Pompey welcome Reading to Fratton Park for the second round of the Capital One Cup looking to pull off another upset after defeating Derby in round one.
Team News
Enda Stevens serves a one-match-ban for his red card on Saturday but it's unlikely he would have played anyway as Paul Cook looks set to name a very similar side to the team that beat Derby in the previous round with Conor Chaplin starting.
Reading boss Steve Clarke is likely to hand full debuts to Espanyol loanee Alex Fernandez and Peruvian winger Paolo Hurtado as he makes changes to his side. Pavel Pogrebnyak, Dominic Samuel and Gareth McCleary are all missing through injury.
The Match
It's safe to say that most Pompey fans were happy when their unseeded team were given a home tie against Reading as it's certainly a winnable one with a better side in Derby already knocked out at Fratton Park.
The Royals only have one win this season and that was an extra time victory in the first round of the League Cup against Colchester. Therefore they are yet to win a league match and have had the most shots in the Championship yet only have two goals to show for it so far this season.
If you add their awful recent record at Fratton Park to those stats then you have to believe that Pompey have more than a fair chance of winning tomorrow's tie despite the amount of changes Paul Cook will make to his squad.
Should a prediction be made on tomorrow's starting eleven then it wouldn't be surprising to see the manager pick virtually the same team that started against Derby although Ben Davies could be rested given his recent hamstring problem and Cook has already claimed that Conor Chaplin will start having bagged the winner off the bench against the Rams.
Whoever else Cook picks there should be a strong team ready to face the Royals but Pompey fans should be under no illusions that Reading's will be stronger on paper. Even though they have a tough time scoring they are difficult to score against and their squad boasts names like Chris Gunter, Oliver Norwood and Stephen Quinn.
The first half humbling by Morecambe on Saturday will still be fresh in the minds, too, so there can be no doubt that the visitors will be the favourites tomorrow evening even if Pompey will fancy their chances.
That should mean another entertaining affair tomorrow in a fixture that has seen plenty of drama in the past and plenty of goals. The league may be the priority but a cup run will only boost confidence as well as the coffers.
And should Pompey end up being knocked out tomorrow, all it will mean is that Southampton fans will have to wait a while longer for their big chance at beating their rivals for the first time in over ten years!
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Paul JONES
RB: Ben DAVIES
CB: Adam WEBSTER
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Brandan HAUNSTRUP
DM: Danny HOLLANDS
DM: Ben CLOSE
RM: Adam McGURK
AM: Conor CHAPLIN
LM: Kyle BENNETT
CF: Jayden STOCKLEY
Reading
GK: Jonathan BOND
RB: Chris GUNTER
CB: Paul McSHANE
CB: Anton FERDINAND
LB: Jordan OBITA
RM: Oliver NORWOOD
CM: Alex FERNANDEZ
CM: Aaron TSHIBOLA
LM: Paolo HURTADO
CF: Simon COX
CF: Orlando SA
Last Time: Portsmouth 1 Reading 0 (Championship - 16/08/2011)
Dave Kitson scored the only goal of this game as Pompey deservedly earned their first win of what was a very difficult season.
My Prediction
I'm confident we can win this one although it'll be difficult. This one could well go into extra time and I simply believe that the Pompey players will show more desire to win the game.
Portsmouth 2 Reading 1 (After Extra Time)