Pompey hope to follow up their convincing win over Coventry City as they travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford in EFL Championship on Boxing Day.
Callum Lang netted all four goals as Pompey inflicted a heavy defeat on to Frank Lampard's Coventry. The result coupled with defeats for Cardiff City and Oxford United meant that Pompey wouldn't be spending Christmas in the bottom three.
Watford tasted defeat last time out as they lost to Burnley. The Hornets were unable to mount a comeback despite Kwadwo Baah scoring 10 minutes from time.
A total of 12 places and 14-points separate Watford in eighth and Pompey in 20th. It's so tight for both teams with four clubs below them within two points of them, whilst Watford are just outside the top six by a point.
Prior to the match, John Mousinho spoke to The News to provide an update on the injuries that they are currently dealing with. The festive period will come too soon for most players but the New Year will hopefully see several players return. As for Watford, they don’t have many injuries to contend with but Tom Cleverley is hoping Imran Louza, who cost a reported €10 million will return.
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17. Harvey Blair - out
A knee injury has prevented Harvey Blair from taking part in training this week. John Mousinho said: 'Harvey hasn’t trained so he won’t be available for Watford.' | ProSport Images
18. Regan Poole - out
Regan Poole has a hamstring injury and won't be seen until the first few weeks of 2025. | Jason Brown/ProSportsImages
19. Regan Poole - out (continued)
John Mousinho said: 'Regan wasn’t able to train this week, so we decided to scan him on Friday. ‘It’s going to be 2-3 weeks from the date of the injury, so there will be one week remaining on Tuesday. ‘We are being cautious with him because it’s on the side where he had the hamstring graft for the ACL, but nothing major. Hopefully he’ll be back within 10 days to two weeks, early January, but it’s nothing to worry about. ‘I think we did the right thing taking him off against Norwich as a precaution, judging by the fact he didn’t manage to train this week. 'We wanted to make sure we got everything right. ‘We have taken into account the 11 months he had out with his injury history and we’ve got to get him right.’ | ProSport Images
20. Ibane Bowat
The transfer deadline day arrival from Fulham is out for the rest of the season after picking up a knee injury in training back in September. | Portsmouth FC