‘I still think’ - Portsmouth legend delivers relegation verdict as battle with Derby County and Cardiff City continues
It would have to take a major ‘disaster’ for Pompey to get relegated this season, according to Guy Whittingham.
The Blues moved seven points clear of the bottom three after a 1-0 triumph over Blackburn on Saturday.
Josh Murphy netted the only goal of the afternoon 20 minutes into the contest, with John Mousinho’s men putting on a solid defensive display to return to winning ways.
It was a much needed three points in the fight for survival, with Pompey losing their previous two games against Plymouth and Preston before the victory over Rovers.
But, the Blues have now got a comfortable cushion between themselves and the relegation zone with seven games to go in the battle for survival.
Speaking after the victory, Whittingham insisted Mousinho’s troops are closing in on survival and details the points needed to maintain their Championship status.
He told BBC Radio Solent: ‘Like I said, seven games to go, there’ll be teams down there playing each other and both of them can’t win those games. There’s plenty of games to go but the position Pompey are in, I think it would have to be a disaster if they were not to stay up now.
‘Also coming off the back of the (Preston) performance for John Mousinho, that’s what he’ll be most pleased about today getting that defensive side of the game right which they didn’t up at Preston. He’ll be delighted with that.
‘I still think it’s 50. It just seems to work out that this is the safety point in this division. I haven't looked back over the years but it’s not quite that. If you get to that then there’s not many teams who do get relegated from the Championship with that amount of points.’
Injuries heavily hampered Pompey’s progress this season
Pompey have been heavily stuck by injuries to key players in the first campaign back in the Championship in 12 years.
Colby Bishop, Conor Shaughnessy, Regan Poole, Ibane Bowat, Jacob Farrell, Rob Atkinson, Kusini Yengi, Mark O’Mahony, Jordan Williams, Hayden Matthews, Paddy Lane and Callum Lang have all missed large parts of the season with their respective issues.
And when asked whether the Blues could’ve been much higher up the standings if they weren’t heavily affected by injury, Whittingham remained coy over giving his prediction but has praised the turnaround with players returning to the side after spells on the sidelines.
‘Who knows. I think they would’ve conceded a few less goals if you’d have had Shaughnessy playing all season for sure, and maybe scored a few more goals too.
‘I know Pompey have scored more goals than Blackburn but they’ve conceded 20-odd more. You’re guessing really, 10 points better off could put you certainly a lot higher up the table but that’s a guess.
‘Certainly was a tough start to the season with no real recognised centre-halves in terms of all being fit and your best two weren’t out there. They’ve worked incredibly hard to be where they are.’