Pompey get ready to welcome Morecambe to Fratton Park for the very first time as they look to win their first game of the season.
Team News
New signing Marcos Painter is set to go straight into the side at left back, meaning Danny East is likely to drop to the bench. Johnny Ertl serves the final match of his three game suspension and so the rest of the team is likely to be unchanged from Saturday's draw at Accrington.
Chris McGready, Marcus Marshall and Kevin Ellison are all in contention to return from injury for the Shrimps but last season's top scorer Jack Redshaw has a hip problem and will not feature.
The Match
Pompey have improved in every game this season so far and really should have beaten Stanley last weekend having had 27 attempts at the Accrington goal.
There is a feeling that things are beginning to click now and with Morecambe tipped to struggle this season, this is the ideal match to kickstart Pompey's season.
Marcos Painter has arrived to address Pompey's "problem position" but feelings over his signing have been mixed as Brighton fans say he is solid but Bournemouth were happy to cut his loan spell short last season after his two appearances for the Cherries ended with a half-time substitution.
Hopefully he'll find his feet quickly in League Two as some of the defending from Pompey so far this campaign has been criminal. It will take time for the back five to work efficiently as a unit but the individual mistakes need to be ironed out now if the home fans are to go home happy tomorrow.
Should the defence tighten up then there should be no reason why Pompey can't win tomorrow. Saturday's showing at Accrington was more than enough proof that there is enough creativity and firepower in this side to cause Morecambe plenty of problems.
And whilst Jed Wallace hasn't been at his best so far, it would be detrimental to get on his back tomorrow if his passes start going loose or he misses an easy chance. We're supposed to be supporting and encouraging our younger players, remember?
Morecambe are no mugs and already have a victory over Wolves to boast about so whilst we may have a little laugh about how they'd only sold FOUR tickets by Thursday, our players need to ensure that their loyal travelling fans don't end up having the last laugh no matter how small their number.
But Pompey fans are feeling quietly confident about this game, it seems. Let's hope that there isn't another reality check around the corner.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Phil SMITH
RB: Yassin MOUTAOUAKIL
CB: Joe DEVERA
CB: Sonny BRADLEY
LB: Marcos PAINTER
RM: Jed WALLACE
CM: Romain PADOVANI
CM: Simon FERRY
LM: Andy BARCHAM
CF: Patrick AGYEMANG
CF: David CONNOLLY
Morecambe
GK: Barry ROCHE
RB: Andrew WRIGHT
CB: Andy PARRISH
CB: Mark HUGHES
LB: Tony DIAGNE
RM: Joe MWASILE
CM: Andrew FLEMING
CM: Stewart DRUMMOND
CM: Ryan WILLIAMS
LM: Kevin ELLISON
CF: Jack SAMPSON
My Prediction
Saturday's performance convinced me that, with a bit of tweaking at the back, this team are capable of beating the poorer teams in the division. So I believe that this will end with Pompey's first victory of the season in a hard fought match.
Portsmouth 2 Morecambe 1