Preview: Portsmouth vs Bristol City - prediction, team news, lineups

Portsmouth and Bristol City will both be looking to bounce back from midweek defeats when they face off in Saturday’s Championship meeting at Fratton Park.

The hosts will head into the weekend in 20th place in the table, while the Robins are just a point outside the playoffs in seventh spot.

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Match preview

Portsmouth returned from the international break with a 3-1 success in last Saturday’s home clash against Millwall, ending a six-game winless run in the second tier. 

Unfortunately for Pompey, they were unable to build upon that result in Wednesday’s away meeting with Sheffield United.

Terry Devlin was shown a straight red card in the closing stages of the first period after he handled the ball on the goalline.

Sydie Peck dispatched the subsequent spot kick, before Patrick Bamford and Gustavo Hamer found the net in the second period to condemn Pompey to a 3-0 loss and prolong their 60-year wait for a win at Bramall Lane. 

As a result of the defeat, Portsmouth have now gone seven away games without a win and will enter the weekend with just a two-point buffer to the bottom three.

John Mousinho’s side will now return to Fratton Park with hopes of claiming back-to-back home wins for the first time since enjoying a run of three successive home wins in February and March.

Bristol City's top-six bid has lost momentum with just one win from their last five Championship encounters (D1, L3).

The Robins ended a three-game winless run with a 3-0 success against Swansea City last weekend, only to fall to a 2-0 defeat in Wednesday's away meeting with Wrexham.

A Nathan Broadhead effort and a Radek Vitek own goal condemned the Robins to their second defeat in the past three away contests.

Despite experiencing a dip in form, Bristol City are just a point adrift of the playoffs and four points away from the automatic promotion spots. 

Their hopes of claiming all three points this weekend may be tempered by the fact that they have failed to win their last four away matches with Portsmouth since they recorded a narrow 1-0 win in April 1999.

This will be Gerhard Struber's second managerial meeting with Portsmouth after his Barnsley side fell to a 4-2 defeat in an FA Cup fourth-round tie in January 2020 - a game which saw current Pompey players Jordan Williams and Conor Chaplin feature in the Austrian's lineup. 

Portsmouth Championship form:

Bristol City Championship form:

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Team News

The hosts remain without the defensive trio of Conor Shaughnessy, Jacob Farrell and Connor Ogilvie due to injury.

Portsmouth’s injury list also contains Harvey Blair, Thomas Waddingham and Franco Umeh, with the latter still waiting to make his debut following his summer move from Crystal Palace.

The versatile Devlin will serve a one-match ban after being sent off in Wednesday’s defeat to Sheffield United. 

Rob Atkinson spent the second half of last season on loan at Portsmouth, but a hamstring injury will prevent him from facing his former club.

The central defender is joined on the sidelines by Luke McNally, Max Bird, Josh Stokes and Joe Williams. 

There is also doubt surrounding Scott Twine’s availability after he was forced to miss the defeat to Wrexham with a quad issue.

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Williams, Knight, Poole, Swanson; Pack, Dozzell; Lang, Chaplin, Murphy; Bishop

Bristol City possible starting lineup:

Vitek; Tanner, Dickie, Roberts; McCrorie, Randell, Vyner, Borges; Hirakawa, Mehmeti; Riis

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We say: Portsmouth 1-1 Bristol City

Bristol City will be keen to return to winning ways against a side that are languishing near the drop zone, but they tend to struggle for victories at Fratton Park, and with that in mind, we think that they will have to settle for a point on Saturday. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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