Both teams can't be separated as they're on the same amount of points with similar goal differences. Villa's home form has been impressive having only lost to Liverpool, United and Arsenal whilst beating everyone else but then Pompey have won their last five league games in a row, conceding just an own goal in those games.
The current stats may favour us but the history doesn't as we have never performed well at Villa Park and only last season can we claim any sort of celebration at the ground having earned a 0-0 draw and with James breaking the record for Premier League clean sheets. We haven't won at Villa Park since 1955, but we've been bad records like that this season and hopefully we can do it again.
We'll be hoping that Sean Davis can recover from his hamstring tear that kept him out of the Everton game, but if he can't then Pedro Mendes will deputise again as Harry looks to name the same players and system that drew last Saturday at home.
Nigel Reo-Coker returns from suspension as Stilian Petrov, once tipped to be a Pompey player, is injured. We will have to be very wary of the likes of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor who have been terrorizing defenders with their pace, but then Scott Carson won't want to see Niko Kranjcar again after what happened at Wembley.
It would be a huge result if we could go to Villa and pick up all three points against a side that look certain to challenge for Europe this season. A draw wouldn't be a bad result either but defeat would be a real setback.
It promises to be a good game tomorrow on the box, so let's hope it lives up to expectations and more importantly, gives us the three points we need.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Aston Villa
GK: Scott CARSON
RB: Craig GARDNER
CB: Olof MELLBERG
CB: Martin LAURSEN
LB: Wlifred BOUMA
RM: Ashley YOUNG
CM: Nigel REO-COKER
CM: Shaun MALONEY
LM: Gareth BARRY
CF: Gabriel AGBONLAHOR
CF: John CAREW
Bench: Stuart TAYLOR, Zat KNIGHT, Patrik BERGER, Luke MOORE, Marlon HAREWOOD
Pompey
GK: David JAMES
RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Noe PAMAROT
RM: John UTAKA
CM: Papa BOUBA DIOP
CM: Pedro MENDES
CM: Sulley MUNTARI
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: BENJANI
Bench: Jamie ASHDOWN, Hermann HRIEDARSSON, Matthew TAYLOR, David NUGENT, KANU
Last Time: Aston Villa 0 Pompey 0
A dull encounter at Villa Park ended goalless and so Pompey claimed their first Premiership point at Villa and David James also broke David Seaman's record for number of Premiership clean sheets kept.
Pundit Watch
Lawro: Home Win (2-1)
Sky Sports: Away Win (0-1)
Soccernet: Draw
Footy-Mad: Away Win
Matt Le Tissier: Draw (2-2)
My Prediction: Draw (1-1)