Pompey will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday's Barnet nightmare by beating south coast neighbours Brighton tomorrow at Fratton Park.
Team News
Liam Lawrence will start after playing against Barnet on Tuesday whilst Jason Pearce serves the final game of his three match suspension. Hermann Hreidarsson and Tal Ben-Haim should return to the side after international duty.
Gus Poyet will hand late fitness tests to Kazenga LuaLua and Will Hoskins but defenders Adam El-Abd and Tommy Elphick are still sidelined with injuries they suffered last season.
The Match
The Seagulls are flying high after their last-gasp win over Doncaster last week and they, unlike Pompey, also managed to make it through to the second round of the Carling Cup courtesy of a 1-0 win over Gillingham.
Brighton fans are buoyant as their team finally have a brand new stadium which is managed by someone who likes his players to play attractive football. Albion are a club on the up and this game will be a tough one.
Football is a funny old game. There was a high amount of optimism surrounding the club after that last minute equaliser at Middlesbrough last week but no signings and an embarrassing cup defeat means the optimism isn't so high just a week later.
However, Pompey surely can't play as badly as they did against Barnet and should be well up for this encounter. Liam Lawrence has mentioned getting revenge for the FA Cup defeat back in January so hopefully he'll step his game up and perform like he did when he first joined the club.
Brighton possess some good attacking players such as Craig Mackail-Smith, Will Buckley and Ashley Barnes who the Pompey defence will find difficult to shackle, especially given the way they have played as a unit in the first two games of the season.
I also worry about our blunt attack that doesn't look like it will score too many goals. Thankfully, Brighton's defence isn't the strongest and so Varney and Lawrence should be able to provide for Kitson (unless he's on the wing himself). I also fancy our midfield to outplay Albion's if Joel Ward is selected ahead of Aaron Mokoena.
I'm looking forward to this game. There should be a high attendance and a good atmosphere for what is something of a derby game. Hopefully the players will respond to that and we can celebrate our first win of the season.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Jamie ASHDOWN
RB: Tal BEN-HAIM
CB: Greg HALFORD
CB: Ricardo ROCHA
LB: Hermann HREIDARSSON
RM: Liam LAWRENCE
CM: Hayden MULLINS
CM: Joel WARD
CM: David NORRIS
LM: Luke VARNEY
CF: Dave KITSON
Brighton
GK: Kasper ANKERGREN
RB: Inigo CALDERON
CB: Gordon GREER
CB: Lewis DUNK
LB: Marcos PAINTER
RM: Will BUCKLEY
CM: Liam BRIDCUTT
CM: Romain VINCELOT
LM: Gary DICKER
CF: Craig MACKAIL-SMITH
CF: Ashley BARNES
Last Time: Portsmouth 4 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (Division One - 31/08/2002)
Matt Taylor slotted in an early goal only for Danny Cullip to pull one back for the promoted Seagulls. The home crowd were further stunned when Richard Hughes' sloppy backpass was latched onto by Paul Brooker who gave the visitors the lead.
The hosts drew level when guy Butters brought down Deon Burton in the box and Paul Merson levelled from the spot. Svetoslav Todorov then put Pompey ahead with a tap in before half-time.
Jason Crowe then belted in a netbuster as Graham Barrett was sent off for Steve Coppell's men late on as Portsmouth continued their early excellent form in the Championship winning season.
Click here for Fratton Faithful Brighton Championship Profile
My Prediction
I shall dismiss the Barnet performance as an off day because we'll lose 5-0 if the players dare repeat that showing. A more committed and organised Pompey should get a result here but Brighton have momentum from winning League One and have enough firepower to grab a draw.
Portsmouth 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 1