‘Massively missing’: The key issue standing in Portsmouth’s way of victory against Ipswich Town
Pompey will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to Sheffield Wednesday against Ipswich Town on Saturday.
The injuries to Josh Murphy and Conor Shaughnessy will have a detrimental effect on Pompey's performance against Ipswich Town.
The verdict of Second Tier Podcast Co-host Ryan Dilks, who believes the Tractor Boys will be too strong for the injury-hit Blues side.
A number of John Mousinho’s squad will be absent for the Portman Road contest on Saturday - including Shaughnessy, who is facing a spell on the sidelines due to a hamstring tear sustained against Sheffield Wednesday last week.
Although Pompey will have Yang Minhyeok returning from an ankle issue, they will be without Conor Chaplin, who is ineligible to face his parent club.
Despite the Blues enjoying a better start to the season than Kieran McKenna’s men, who have picked up just one win in their opening five matches, Dilks is adamant Ipswich will capitalise on Mousinho’s injury issues.
Ipswich Town v Pompey prediction
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s contest, he said: ‘My banker this weekend is Ipswich to win at home to Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon.
‘Ipswich have been pretty poor, they’ve got just one win on the board which was that 5-0 thumping of Sheffield United.
‘It’s hard to make a good argument that they deserve to any any of their other games - that includes the abandoned game against Blackburn last week.
‘They were so poor and after going down to 10 men, it looked as if that game was heading in one direction.
‘They’ll need to massively up their game to get a result here but I think they can.
‘For me it’s got to click at some point. That squad is so ridiculously talented, it’s surely only a matter of time. They’ve made a lot of signings pretty late in the window so they need time to gel but it needs to happen sooner rather than later.
‘Could it start at home to Portsmouth? I don’t see why not.
‘Pompey are a good side but are coming off the back of a very disappointing performance against Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, becoming the first team to lose against them in the league.
‘They were massively missing Josh Murphy, who was injured for that game. He’s 50/50 for this one.
‘Conor Shaughnessy is definitely unavailable for this one, which will be a big miss at the back as well. So Ipswich should be looking to get the win here and get things going.’
Ipswich Town and Pompey’s start to Championship season
Pompey go into the contest two points and four places above Ipswich, who have had a tough start to life back in the Championship.
The Tractor Boys have picked up just one win in their opening five games and had last weekend’s match against Blackburn Rovers abandoned with 11 minutes to go.
The EFL have since decided the fixtures should be replayed in full, but McKenna’s men will be without Jacob Greaves, whose red card at Ewood Park hasn’t been rescinded.