I'm quite happy with the way the season has gone so far and if anyone had offered you 31 points after 19 games I'm sure most Pompey fans would have taken that. By logic, we should finish with around 62 points if we don't take form into account. Will that be enough to qualify for Europe? I think so...
But form does count and if there's one thing that has to be addressed then it's our home form. It's astonishing that we haven't managed to score in the league at Fratton Park since that 7-4 game, although I'm sure the solution isn't far away.
We've played many good sides at Fratton this season and out of the seven teams that could realistically get relegated at the end of the season (Birmingham, Bolton, Derby, Fulham, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Wigan), we've only played one of them. There's a potential 18 points there and these are the teams that we really must beat.
But the revelation this season is that we've been very good away from home. Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Fulham, Newcastle and Wigan have all fallen to us on their own patch and with the system we play I think we can pick up a few more wins on the road.
As of every season we have been in this league, the most important month is January and Harry has his work cut out to replace those players going to the African Nations Cup. Last season we failed to strengthen in the window and also failed to win a number of games that we really should have won.
Looking ahead to 2008, there aren't too many fixtures that are going to be extra tough. I don't expect us to get anything at either Manchester ground, Goodison or White Hart Lane and I expect that Chelsea will probably beat us at Fratton Park because they always do.
Apart from that, every other game on the fixture list is winnable and I think there's a good chance that we could finish in the top six this season. I don't think that should be the top priority though...
I was disappointed that we were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn, but the FA Cup represents a chance at winning a major piece of silverware and a possibly easier route to Europe. Of course, we have to make sure we come through a tough tie at Ipswich first and then avoid a nasty draw.
The last five seasons we have been knocked out by Man United (twice), Scummers, Arsenal and Liverpool. It would be nice for the draw to be kinder this season so we can fluke our way to a final like the Stains did not so long ago.
Onto how the Pompey players have performed and the defence takes a lot of credit for our league position so far this season, especially Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin who have been outstanding at the back so far this season.
The African presence has given the midfield a new strength that has never been seen before in a Pompey team, although arguably our best performer this season in the centre of the pitch has been Sean Davis who has been pivotal to our defensive record this season.
Benjani has performed above expectations and grabbed himself 9 goals this season whilst Kanu has turned games in our favour too. We still need a prolific striker though and whilst I hope we can bring one in, Harry's ramblings about having no money means that I don't expect much.
David Nugent was expected to be a bit hit when he was unveiled alongside John Utaka in a transfer swoop that cost around £14 million. How ironic it is then, that these two players have had the least impact on our season so far.
Dave can't be fully to blame for his woes. Yes, he has missed a couple of sitters but he's also been out of luck and he hasn't been given a fair crack of the whip.
On the other hand, Utaka started his Pompey career in blistering form and everyone thought he'd be a hit after his goal against Bolton. Since then he has been a model of frustration and has been likened to Lomana LuaLua of last year, and that can't be good. He still has plenty of time of show us what he is truly capable of though.
All in all I'm happy with the first half of our season. We might have had a point more at this stage last season but we have already played Liverpool and Arsenal twice this year already. With the fixtures left to play and the players we've got, I'm confident we can push on and have a good 2008.
Play Up Pompey!