Blackburn Rovers will travel to the South Coast for Saturday’s Championship encounter against Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
The visitors are in ninth place in the Championship standings, while Pompey return from the international break in 17th position.
Match preview
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Portsmouth would have been disappointed to lose three of their last four Championship matches before the international break.
Pompey bounced back from a defeat to Luton Town with an impressive 1-0 home win over promotion hopefuls Leeds United, which moved them 10 points clear of the drop zone with 10 games to play.
However, John Mousinho‘s side failed to build upon that narrow victory, going on to lose 2-1 in back-to-back matches against Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End.
As a result, Portsmouth’s buffer to the drop zone was reduced to just four points, leaving them with work to do if they are to avoid an immediate return to League One.
They are now at risk of losing three consecutive league matches for the first time since September, although they may be able to take confidence from the fact they have won nine of their previous 13 home games (D2, L2).
Portsmouth are looking to beat Blackburn for the first time since November 2008, having drawn one and lost five of their previous six head-to-head meetings.
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Blackburn Rovers Valerien Ismael has failed to make an impact since being named as John Eustace‘s permanent successor at the end of February.
After losing to Swansea City prior to Ismael’s arrival, Blackburn went on to play out a 1-1 draw with Norwich City in the Frenchman’s first game in charge, before suffering three consecutive defeats to Derby County, Stoke City and Cardiff City.
Yuki Ohashi netted a 16th-minute equaliser to cancel out Cardiff’s early opener in the final match before the international window, only for Yakou Meite to net a second-half winner to bring an end to Blackburn’s three-game unbeaten home run.
Blackburn’s five-game winless run has seen them fall five points adrift of the top six, meaning they will have to produce a strong set of results in their final eight games if they are to rekindle their fading playoff hopes.
Unfortunately for Rovers, they have struggled for positive results in their recent road trips, having won one, drawn one and lost seven of their previous nine Championship away matches.
They can at least draw inspiration from the fact they have already beaten Portsmouth in 2025, scoring three goals in the final 30 minutes of January’s home fixture to clinch a commanding 3-0 victory.
Team News
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Portsmouth are unable to call upon Jacob Farrell, Ibane Bowat, Hayden Matthews, Callum Lang and Paddy Lane for the rest of the season.
Conor Shaughnessy and Rob Atkinson are still continuing to work their way back from hamstring and calf injuries respectively.
Kusini Yengi is unavailable after he picked up a minor hamstring problem while on international duty with Australia, but in positive news, Jordan Williams and Christian Saydee are both in contention to feature in the matchday squad.
Meanwhile, Blackburn are still expected to be without Harry Leonard, Callum Brittain, Scott Wharton, Andreas Weimann, Augustus Kargbo and Emmanuel Dennis.
There are also doubts surrounding the availability of Harry Pickering, Owen Beck, Danny Batth and Ryan Hedges.
Makhtar Gueye will continue to lead the line for the visitors, with the striker looking to enjoy another successful outing against Portsmouth after finding the net in January’s 3-0 victory.
Portsmouth possible starting lineup:
Schmid; Swanson, Poole, Ogilvie, Bramall; Potts, Dozzell; Ritchie, Aouchiche, Murphy; Bishop
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Pears; Rankin-Costello, Carter, Hyam, Ribeiro; Travis, Tronstad; Cozier-Duberry, Ohashi, Dolan; Gueye
We say: Portsmouth 1-2 Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn may be winless in five matches, but they have won five of their previous six meetings with Portsmouth, and with that in mind, we think they will do enough to claim a narrow victory in Saturday’s clash at Fratton Park.
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