Preview: Portsmouth vs. Sheffield Wednesday - prediction, team news, lineups

Portsmouth will attempt to claim their first home win of the season when they welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Fratton Park for Friday's Championship encounter.

Meanwhile, the visitors will be looking to return to winning ways after taking just one point from their last two matches.

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Match preview

Portsmouth are currently propping up the Championship table after winning one, drawing five and losing five of their 11 league games.

Pompey began their first Championship campaign since 2011-12 with a nine-game winless run, before they finally clinched their maiden win in Saturday's away clash against Queens Park Rangers.

Freddie Potts and Callum Lang both got on the scoresheet at Loftus Road to fire Pompey to a narrow 2-1 victory, ensuring that they went into Tuesday's away clash with Cardiff City in a positive mood.

Unfortunately for Portsmouth, the confidence built from Saturday's win was wiped out in the opening 13 minutes at the Cardiff City Stadium, with Regan Poole diverting the ball into his own net before Callum Robinson got on the scoresheet to condemn Pompey to a 2-0 defeat.

After falling to their third loss in four away games, relegation-threatened Portsmouth will now return to Fratton Park in search of their first home win of the season after drawing three and losing three of their first six home league matches.

Their hopes of claiming maximum points may be tempered by the fact that they have not won a competitive game against Sheffield Wednesday since winning 3-1 at Hillsborough in November 2003, while their most recent head-to-head home victory took place in October 2000.

Having won three, drawn three and lost five of their 11 league games, Sheffield Wednesday are sitting in 12th place with a three-point gap to the drop zone.

The Owls have lost just one of their last five matches (W2, D2), but they will be frustrated with the fact that they have taken just one point from their previous two outings.

Danny Rohl's side fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Burnley, before they played out a goalless draw in Tuesday's clash with Swansea City at Hillsborough.

After competing in back-to-back home matches, Sheffield Wednesday will now head on their travels with hopes of claiming consecutive away wins after beating Coventry City 2-1 earlier this month to record their first victory of the Championship season.

Having scored just three goals in five away matches, the Owls may view Friday's fixture as a great chance to add to that tally against a Portsmouth side that have the Championship's worst defensive record with 23 goals conceded in 11 matches.

Sheffield Wednesday can certainly take confidence from the fact that they have won three of their previous five games against Portsmouth, including a 1-0 win in their most recent trip to Fratton Park in March 2023.

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Team News

Portsmouth are still expected to be without the services of Will Norris, Ibane Bowat, Conor Shaughnessy, Jacob Farrell and Colby Bishop.

They also have three fresh injury concerns after Roman Schmid, Jordan Williams and Paddy Lane were all forced off in the first half of Tuesday's defeat to Cardiff.

With Schmid a doubt for Friday's fixture, goalkeeper Jordan Archer is poised to make his first Portsmouth start, while there could also be starting berths for Zak Swanson, Christian Saydee and Kusini Yengi.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon goalkeeper Ben Hamer and midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah due to their respective injury issues.

Centre-back Michael Ihiekwe will have to be assessed after sitting out the last two matches with an Achilles issue.

Josh Windass and Ike Ugbo played around half-an-hour in Tuesday's draw with Swansea and the pair may be in contention to start Friday's away game.

Portsmouth possible starting lineup: Schmid; Swanson, Poole, McIntyre, Ogilvie; Pack, Potts; Lang, Saydee, Murphy; Yengi

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup: Beadle; Valery, Bernard, Famewo; Valentin, Charles, Bannan, Johnson; Gassama, Windass; Ugbo

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We say: Portsmouth 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Portsmouth will be desperate to claim their first home win of the season, but after drawing three of their last five home games, we think that they could play out another draw in Friday's contest, especially as they have failed to win any of their previous five matches against Sheffield Wednesday.

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

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