Sky Sports pundit and Portsmouth title winner pinpoints key factor in Championship survival bid with Leicester City, West Brom, Blackburn Rovers and Oxford United
The Pompey Division One title winner and former Premier League champion’s had his say on his old club’s Championship survival fight.
The Fratton Faithful have been pinpointed as the key factor Pompey’s survival fight.
But John Mousinho’s men have been warned Blues fans will let them know if performances aren’t acceptable, as they bid to remain in the Championship.
That’s the verdict of Division One champion Tim Sherwood, who helped guide the club into the Premier League in 2003 while at the club under Harry Redknapp.
Sherwood, who now works as a Sky Sports pundit, praised the job Mousinho is carrying out, as he bids to keep Pompey in the second tier for a second season on meagre resources by the division’s standards.
The Premier League winner believes supporters are still behind their coach with eight games to go, as their place in the division hangs in the balance.
Last weekend’s dreadful capitulation at QPR saw patience snap among the 1,760 travelling fans at Loftus Road, with ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’, ‘we’re going down with the Wednesday’ and Anti-Eisner chants sang.
Pompey fans now have four games at Fratton Park and four on the road to save themselves, starting at Norwich City on Good Friday.
Sherwood sees home form as key, with the demand to arrest a run of four straight defeats at PO4 in the fight to stay up with Oxford United, Blackburn Rovers, West Brom and Leicester City.
The former England international has felt the lift Pompey fans can give their side, with that convincing him they can be the major factor in their survival fight.
In an interview with New Betting Offers, Sherwood said: ‘Portsmouth fans will be the difference between them staying up or not.
‘John Mousinho has done a good job, but Portsmouth need to pick up. The home form has to pick up. They have to do better at home.
‘Because I know what it's like playing in front of them home fans there at Portsmouth. They're fantastic. They help you over the line. But they can get on you if you don't get the positive results.
‘So if you start the games well, they get you through it. I think that they will be the difference.
‘The Pompey fans will be the difference between them staying up or not.
‘I think the players have to have the character to perform in front of them. It's so tight.
‘I think he's done a good job. I really do. And the fans are with him there. And I think they give him the support.
‘Hopefully all my teams can stay up. Watford are okay. He's gone in there and done a decent job. Norwich, Philippe Clement, brilliant. Hopefully John can pull it around and I need Michael O’Neill to step up at Blackburn and get us over the line.’