Exclusive:From the ridiculous to the absolutely ludicrous: The crazy 28 days which could define Portsmouth's season
The Blues among two Championship sides who must play eight games in 28 days
From the ridiculous to the absolutely ludicrous, nonetheless Pompey’s congested fixture list is likely to define this season’s Championship ambition.
With the revamped international break dictating 23 barren days without a domestic match, John Mousinho’s men will now be challenged to cram in eight games over the next 28 days.
It’s an overcrowded schedule which has inevitably drawn strong criticism from the Blues’ head coach, echoed by many across the Championship.
What’s more, the chaotic period represents Pompey’s toughest run of fixtures over the course of the 2026-27 season as they bid to improve on their current placing of 19th.
Eight games to be played before November 7
Sunday’s south-coast derby with Southampton marks the start of facing three of the current top seven, trips to Burnley and Norwich, plus Millwall at Fratton Park.
Also throw in Sheffield United at home and it signals a breathless 28 days which ends on November 7 - when the next international break kicks off.
In truth, on paper before the season started, the approaching run of games were even more intimidating. Certainly it leapt out to deliver a stinging blow when assessing the dangers of the fixture list.
However, as it has turned out, Burnley are bottom, while Norwich and Sheffield United are just one point ahead of Pompey.
Even Southampton, among the promotion favourites, are positioned 13th, having failed to win any league away match, albeit with a maximum haul at St Mary’s along with plenty of goals.
Regardless, during the next month we will discover the direction where Pompey’s season is likely to be headed amid plenty of summer talk about progression, backed up by hugely improved spending plans.
Unforgiving timeframe
If the identity of that opposition wasn’t challenging enough, the timeframe is also unforgiving, with the Blues one of just two Championship sides expected to play more than seven times between now and November 7.
That anomaly has been caused by the postponement of the trip to Wolves earlier in the season, caused by Carabao Cup complications for the hosts.
Subsequently, the match was rearranged for after the international break, leaving both clubs as having fulfilled one fewer fixture than everyone else in the league.
This will now take place on Tuesday, October 20, with Wolves presently fourth in the table, having lost one of their opening seven games.
Before then, Mousinho’s troops have Southampton, Sheffield United (October 14) and 17th-placed Norwich (October 17). Incidentally, the Blues haven’t lost at Carrow Road since September 2002, during Harry Redknapp’s title-winning First Division season.
Millwall, who finished third last season yet are a disappointing 11th at present, are due at Fratton Park on October 24, followed by the trip to rock-bottom Burnley (October 31).
Burnley represent interesting opposition, having failed to win any of their eight league matches under new boss Nicky Hayen, scoring just nine goals in the process.
Undoubtedly, much more was expected from a team which last season occupied the Premier League before the inevitable summer sales, with their sole victory in 2026-27 coming in a penalty shoot-out win over Notts County in the Carabao Cup.
Successive Fratton Park fixtures in November
Pompey’s final two games of an exhaustive period are Swansea (November 3) and Stoke (November 7), both of which are scheduled for Fratton Park.
Swansea are the surprise Championship leaders, positioned two points clear of West Ham, while big-spending Stoke, who beat Pompey to the recruitment of Dundee’s Luke Graham, are seventh.
Undoubtedly, Pompey had a favourable fixture list at the start of the campaign, with eight points from those seven games a little disappointing, with Mousinho admitting ‘it could have been better’.
Now they are faced with eight games in 28 days, representing a potentially season-defining period against some of the toughest opponents in the Championship.