Preview: Portsmouth vs Derby County - prediction, team news, lineups

Portsmouth will welcome Derby County to Fratton Park for Tuesday's Championship encounter.

The south coast side are targeting their second win of the season, while Derby are searching for their first victory of the 2026-27 campaign.

Match preview

Portsmouth have made a rather underwhelming start to the season, having mustered just one win in four competitive games.

John Mousinho's side started the campaign with back-to-back 3-1 defeats to West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers in the EFL Cup and Championship respectively.

The south coast side then came out the right side of a 3-1 scoreline in their away clash with newly-promoted Lincoln City, but they failed to build upon that positive result in Saturday's narrow loss to Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

Summer signing Marko Milovanovic dispatched a 95th-minute penalty against the Robins, but his first Pompey goal ultimately arrived too late as his side fell to a 2-1 defeat.

After shipping 11 goals across four competitive matches, Pompey will be targeting defensive improvements in Tuesday's clash against Derby County, a team they have not beaten since a 2-1 EFL Cup victory in August 2015.

In fact, Portsmouth are searching for their first head-to-head victory in the league since running 3-1 winners in a Premier League encounter in January 2008.

While Pompey are sitting in 15th spot, Derby are languishing in 21st place after collecting just one point from their first three Championship games.

Derby started the season with a 2-1 defeat to Lincoln in the EFL Cup before they lost by the same scoreline in their opening league clash against Charlton Athletic.

After fighting back on two occasions to take a point off Cardiff City, the Rams experienced a much tougher outing against the Bluebirds' rivals, Swansea City, in Saturday's 3-0 defeat.

Derby failed to register a shot on target and conceded 12 shots on their goal in a forgettable outing for John Eustace's side.

The Rams may view Portsmouth as the perfect opponent for a positive response, having avoided defeat in each of their 12 league meetings between the two sides.

Derby are targeting a second consecutive away win against Portsmouth after prevailing via a 1-0 scoreline in March's trip to Fratton Park, which came courtesy of Sammie Szmodics's eight-minute opener.

Portsmouth Championship form:

Portsmouth form (all competitions):

Derby County Championship form:

Derby County form (all competitions):

Team News

Portsmouth remain without Josef Bursik, Conor Ogilvie, Mark Kosznovszky, Keshi Anderson, Franco Umeh and Thomas Waddingham due to injury.

Key attacker Josh Murphy is set to miss a second consecutive game after sustaining an injury in the win over Lincoln.

Ebou Adams and Marko Milovanovic could come into Mousinho's thinking if he opts to alter his side for Tuesday's home fixture.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Patrick Agyemang, Derry Murkin and former Portsmouth defender Matt Clarke.

Forward Carlton Morris is expected to be out for at least two weeks after picking up a soft-tissue injury.

Midfielder Lewis Travis will try to shake off the knock that forced him off in the latter stages of Saturday's defeat to Swansea.

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Devlin, Arthur, Shaughnessy, Swanson; Adams, Pack; Kamara, Segecic, Kavuma-McQueen; Milovanovic

Derby County possible starting lineup:

Widell Zetterstrom; Ward, Langas, Sanderson, Taylor; Mowatt, Travis; Clark, Szmodics, Blackett-Taylor; Brewster

We say: Portsmouth 1-1 Derby County

Derby may be winless in their first four competitive games of the new season, but they have not at a league game at Fratton Park in 18 years, and we think they will extend that unbeaten run with a score draw on Tuesday.

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