Pompey take on wobbling Plymouth Argyle at a sold out Fratton Park tomorrow looking for their fourth straight win.
Team News
Bolton loanee Conor Wilkinson is set to miss more matches than expected due to his groin injury and so won't be available. Ryan Fulton may be available but it's expected that Paul Cook will stick with the same side that started at Dagenham last weekend.
Reuben Reid is likely to miss out for the visitors with a thigh injury and so striker Tyler Harvey, prolific during his time at Bath, has been recalled. Ryan Brunt and Josh Simpson are also out due to injury.
The Match
Whilst this is undoubtedly Pompey's biggest game of the season so far, fans shouldn't go overboard by overhyping it no matter how much the press are trying to.
It's safe to say that whichever team loses tomorrow can kiss their automatic promotion chances goodbye whilst a draw would leave them hanging by a thread. However, a Pompey win would only see a hurdle cleared in the race for automatic promotion as they still rely on slip-ups from the other three teams above.
Still, Paul Cook's men will be backed to win this game given the respective form of the two sides. Pompey have won their last three games whilst stuttering Argyle have lost their last two and five of their last eight.
However, it would be stupid to write them off as easy opposition as the Pigrims boast an impressive away record and will likely play to hit Pompey on the break - a tactic which has worked for the likes of Morecambe and Oxford this season.
They also possess some good players in their squad such as Graham Carey and Jamille Matt whilst Jake Jervis is the former player who may well come back to haunt his old side.
When it comes to team selection there would be good reason to take the underperforming Adam McGurk out of the side and replace him with Gareth Evans but Cook is a believer in the "don't change a winning team" mantra so expect an unchanged side from the win at Dagenham.
So long as Pompey don't approach the game with a gung-ho manner and improve on their defensive display from Saturday then they should beat Plymouth and leapfrog them into 5th place in League Two.
Unfortunately with Oxford, Accrington and Bristol Rovers all having home games against Luton, Morecambe and Yeovil respectively, don't expect the gap on the top four to close any more than that if Plymouth are defeated tomorrow.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Paul JONES
RB: Ben DAVIES
CB: Christian BURGESS
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Danny HOLLANDS
RM: Adam McGURK
AM: Gary ROBERTS
LM: Kyle BENNETT
CF: Michael SMITH
Plymouth
GK: Luke McCORMICK
RB: Jordon FOSTER
CB: Curtis NELSON
CB: Peter HARTLEY
LB: Gary SAWYER
RM: Gregg WYLDE
CM: Carl McHUGH
CM: Graham CAREY
LM: Hiram BOATENG
CF: Jamille MATT
CF: Jake JERVIS
Last Time: Portsmouth 2 Plymouth Argyle 1 (League Two - 06/04/2015)
This match came to life at the start of the second half as Jed Wallace curled in a superb opener and the game was effectively won when Ryan Taylor headed in Dan Butler's cross. Olly Lee pulled one back but the comeback was halted when Curtis Nelson was shown a second yellow card by Andy D'Urso.
My Prediction
Cautiously optimistic ahead of this one. Pompey should have the confidence and ability to beat out-of-sorts Argyle.
Portsmouth 2 Plymouth Argyle 1