'It's not ideal' - why Portsmouth are being tipped to defy the odds and beat Stoke City at Fratton Park
Pompey welcome Stoke to Fratton Park today as they look to get over their Coventry City defeat
Pompey have been tipped to put their Coventry City disappoinment to one side and emerge victorious from their game against Stoke City on Saturday.
John Mousinho’s side suffered their third Fratton Park defeat of the season when they found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline to the league-leading Sky Blues on Tuesday night.
Goals either side of half-time from Brandon Thomas-Asante inflicted the damage on the hosts, who scored an injury-time consolation through summer signing Mckenzie Kirk.
Pompey, who sit 17th in the table on the back of that result, have been presented with the opportunity to repay the Fratton faithful immediately when Mark Robins’ Stoke make the journey to the south coast.
The Potters’ encouraging start to the season, which saw them top the table after match-days two and three, has been dealt a couple of telling blows in recent games - with defeat at Millwall in midweek the fifth time in six games they’ve not managed to secure maximum points.
That’s seen them drop to sixth in the table, their lowest league placing this season, and their goals dry up, with Robins’ side registering just three over the same period.
According to Not The Top 20 Podcast’s Geroge Elek, the Potters looked ‘really flat’ during their midweek trip to the Den. And with Stoke forced to hit the road again just days later for lunch-time kick-off at Fratton Park, he believes that could play straight into Pompey’s hands.
Pompey v Stoke: ‘Portsmouth look overpriced’
Speaking on Not The Top 20 Betting Show in association with Sky Bet, who have Pompey priced at 17/10 for a win on Saturday, Elek said: ‘Portsmouth, you know, have kind of struggled to really get going this season, but I think part of that is having played quite a lot of the best teams already in the league, they were beaten 2-1 at home to Coventry midweek, but were by no means disgraced.
‘Again, I think this is just a Stoke angle where they've been so impressive for the most part this season, but were really flat midweek, and it's not ideal to have to go Millwall Tuesday and then back down to Pompey on Saturday.
‘I think, for a home win. Portsmouth look just a bit overpriced.’
Pompey’s last win game against previous league-leaders Middlesbrough at PO4 just before the international break. Since then they’ve travelled to Leicester, who were third when the Blues drew at the King Power Stadium, and played Frank Lampard’s Coventry, who are the division’s top scorers and the only unbeaten team left in the Championship.
The visit of Stoke, who are priced 8/5 to win at Fratton Park by Sky Bet, means the Blues will have played four teams sat in the top six at the time of kick-off since October 4.