‘The teams who will go down’: Sky Sports pundits makes Portsmouth relegation call in battle with West Brom, Leicester City, Oxford United and Blackburn Rovers
Sky Sports’ EFL experts have been weighing up the Championship dogfight - their calls are grim reading for the Fratton Faithful.
Sky Sports pundit Tommy Smith has made a grim Pompey relegation prediction.
The former Middlesbrough and Stoke City defender has tipped the Blues to drop back into League One, amid a damaging run of form.
Sky Sports pundit: ‘I’m a little bit concerned for Portsmouth’
John Mousinho’s men have picked up one point from six games, with Smith seeing the 6-1 annihilation at QPR last time out as particularly damaging.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Essential EFL podcast, the right-back who retired last year believes John Mousinho will keep his job, but feels Leicester City have the extra quality to stay up over the Blues and Oxford United.
Smith said: ‘I think it’s probably too late now to make a change (for Pompey).
‘I’m not saying they should, I think Mousinho will be there and he will see it through until the end of the season.
‘I’ll be honest with you, that one against QPR was a real bad one, a real damaging one. You’re in that situation you’re in and you need that soul and fight in a relegation scrap.
‘When I saw QPR thumped 4-0 by Boro a few weeks ago they looked like they were in mid-table and on the beach. So to beat Portsmouth 6-1, from a Portsmouth point of view, is a really, really bad one in a relegation fight.
‘I’m a little bit concerned for Portsmouth, I’ll be totally honest with you.
‘The game in hand against Ipswich, who are going for automatic promotion, is going to be a real tough one.
‘They need wins on the board really, really quick because one point from the last six games is not good when all the teams around you are picking up points.
‘I think Portsmouth and Oxford are the teams who will go down.
‘I just think the other teams have those moments and bits of quality, I don’t see Portsmouth and Oxford having that. So I think they will be the two who go down.’
Hinchcliffe sees scenario where Leicester City go down
Fellow Sky Sports pundit, Andy Hinchcliffe, can see a scenario where Leicester drop out of the Championship a decade on from winning the Premier League. Hinchcliffe ultimately sees a bleak Pompey outcome, however.
He added: ‘If it were to be different, I would put Leicester in the bottom three on goal difference.
‘I look at those last four games and they have Portsmouth to play. If Portsmouth win that one, and it’s a big if, they have Hull, Millwall and Blackburn on the final day.
‘If Leicester are to go down it could be Portsmouth who save themselves - and it could be on goal difference.
‘It’s that tight, but I’d probably go with Portsmouth, Oxford and Sheffield Wednesday.’