‘There's quite a lot of evidence mounting’: The exciting Portsmouth verdict ahead of Millwall contest
Pompey make the trip to play-off hopefuls Millwall on Saturday afternoon, with a four-point advantage over the relegation zone.
Pompey are a much-better side than their current league position suggests.
That’s the verdict of George Elek from the Not The Top 20 podcast, who is adamant the Blues are hitting their stride at the perfect time of the campaign.
John Mousinho’s men returned to winning ways in midweek with a crucial 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley.
Mousinho’s troops return to south London this weekend to face third-placed Millwall, who are just five points away from the automatic positions after a run of three wins in their previous four.
Indeed, Elek is expecting a thrilling affair between the two sides and has been impressed by the Blues brilliant turn in form since the turn of the year, which has seen them lose just two of their past seven matches.
Big Pompey billing ahead of Millwall contest
And the NTT20 co-host is adamant Pompey’s league position doesn’t justify their current run of outstanding performances.
Speaking on the latest episode, Elek said: ‘Millwall are a very good team. They have a huge chance of finishing in the playoffs this season and maybe even in the top two. They could well be a Premier League side next season.
‘My accaswerve are Millwall who are at home to Pompey. They are four to five to do so. It's very little to do with them.
‘They obviously completely screwed me over last weekend in conceding a goal. Max Crocombe just spilling a long shot from 30 yards into Jamal Lowe’s path to go 1-0 down. I backed them to win to nil before they scored twice shortly afterwards to win the game 2-1.
‘They were still pretty good in the game, they missed those chances at 0-0. There's not too much to worry about there.
‘This is mainly just Portsmouth. Portsmouth went off a ridiculously short price against Preston and again they lost 1-0 in. If that price was accurate then it suggests that they are much better than their league position.
‘I think there's quite a lot of evidence mounting now that they are better than their league position. They were good in the 3-1 win over Charlton in midweek.
‘They were good in their 1-0 defeat against Sheffield United, the better team for 70 minutes of that game despite losing at 1-0. They were good in their 3-0 home win over West Brom.
‘They've got loads of injuries. And I think this might be impacting their price a bit because they were a big price in midweek as well.
‘But I think when you look at injury lists and you're like, oh, no, they're missing Chaplin and Murphy and all these players, but their performances are better than they have been all season. And you have to kind of ignore it, surely. And they seem to be hitting their stride at a really good time.
‘So yes, they're not a very good side away from home. Yes, they've only won three games away from home all season. But one of those games was their last game, even though they were helped by a goalkeeping error there as well, with Kaminski letting the long shot fly through his legs from range.’
‘So yes, I think four to five is very, very short for a team to be against his Pompey side, who look to be hitting their form, despite the fact that Millwall are a very good side.’