Preview: Portsmouth vs Blackburn Rovers - prediction, team news, lineups

Two teams battling at the wrong end of the Championship table will face off when Portsmouth welcome Blackburn Rovers to Fratton Park on Saturday.

John Mousinho's side are languishing in the bottom three, while Rovers are five points clear in 20th spot in the league table.

Match preview

Portsmouth are sitting two points adrift from safety after winning four, drawing five and losing 10 of their 19 Championship matches this season.

The south coast club have lost each of their previous three games without scoring since beating Millwall 3-1 on November 22.

After losing to Sheffield United and Bristol City, Pompey looked set to play out a goalless draw in Tuesday's away clash with Swansea City until Liam Cullen netted a 78th-minute winner to condemn Mousinho's charges to a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Portsmouth have now failed to score in eight league games this season, while they are the joint-lowest scorers in the division with just 15 goals to their name.

Pompey will look to get their campaign back on track in Saturday's meeting with Blackburn, with the hosts aiming to beat Rovers at Fratton Park for the second time in 2025 after Josh Murphy scored the decisive goal in March.

The opening goal could be crucial to Portsmouth's hopes of picking up at least a point, considering they have lost all five league games in which they have conceded first this season.

Like their hosts, Blackburn could also do with three points this weekend, having failed to win any of their previous four completed matches, although they were leading in last weekend's abandoned game against Sheffield Wednesday.

After losing 1-0 to Queens Park Rangers, Rovers have gone on to play out three consecutive draws against Wrexham, Ipswich Town and Oxford United.

Todd Cantwell came off the bench to equalise from the penalty spot in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Oxford at Ewood Park.

While they salvaged a point, Blackburn have now gone four home games without a win since they beat Southampton 2-1 on October 25.

As a result, Valerien Ismael's side may be looking forward to heading on their travels, especially as they have dropped just two points from their previous four away assignments.

In fact, only Coventry City and Middlesbrough have picked up more points on the road than Blackburn, who have collected 16 of their 22 points from their nine Championship away games.

Portsmouth Championship form:

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Blackburn Rovers Championship form:

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Team News

Portsmouth remain without Jacob Farrell, Regan Poole, Connor Ogilvie, Conor Shaughnessy, Franco Umeh and Thomas Waddingham due to injury.

Andre Dozzell returns from a one-match ban, but Marlon Pack is suspended after he collected his fifth yellow card of the Championship season.

Zak Swanson was forced off in midweek and will have to be assessed, while Josh Knight is a doubt after being absent from the last two matchday squads.

Meanwhile, Blackburn midfielder Adam Forshaw will be out for five weeks after he sustained a hamstring injury in last Saturday’s abandoned match against Sheffield Wednesday.

Forshaw is joined on the sidelines by Balazs Toth, Hayden Carter, Scott Wharton, Ryan Hedges and Augustus Kargbo.

Ismael is hopeful that midfielder Sondre Tronstad could return from an ankle injury in time for Saturday’s trip to Fratton Park.

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Devlin, Matthews, Bowat, Williams; Swift, Dozzell; Lang, Chaplin, Murphy; Bishop

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:

Pears; Miller, McLoughlin, Pratt; Alebiosu, Tronstad, Garner-Hickman, Ribeiro; Morishita; Gudjohnsen, Ohashi

We say: Portsmouth 0-1 Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn may only be four points better off than Portsmouth, but they have proven to be a strong team on the road this season, and considering they have won three of their last four away games, we think they will do enough to take all three points from Saturday's fixture.

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