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

Birmingham City will wrap up the 2025-26 Championship campaign with a trip to Fratton Park for Saturday's clash with Portsmouth.

The two sides only have position to play for on matchday 46, with Pompey and Birmingham sitting in 16th and 10th place, respectively, in the Championship table.

Match preview

Portsmouth are guaranteed a third consecutive season of Championship football after they effectively secured their survival with a run of three successive victories earlier this month.

John Mousinho's side pulled off wins over promotion contenders Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town, before they beat struggling Leicester City 1-0 to make it three consecutive wins without conceding. 

Pompey's survival was officially sealed on the same night they fell to a heavy 5-1 away defeat to champions Coventry City.

The south coast side returned to winning ways in last Saturday's trip to the Bet365 Stadium, which saw Adrian Segecic score his first Pompey hat-trick in a 3-1 victory over Stoke City.

The talk since that result has focused on Mousinho's future, with the Pompey boss believed to be a potential candidate for the vacant managerial position at fellow Championship side Bristol City.

Pompey fans will hope that Saturday's clash against Birmingham is not Mousinho's final game in the dugout, as the hosts look to claim their first victory on the final day of the season in one of the top two tiers since beating Middlesbrough 5-1 in 2003-04. 

© Imago

Birmingham, meanwhile, are guaranteed a top-half finish after winning 17, drawing 12 and losing 16 of their 45 league games.

However, there will be some disappointment that they have fallen considerably short of the playoffs, which would have been their ambition after cruising to the League One title last season. 

Chris Davies's side are at least on course to finish the season on a high after winning three of their previous four matches (D1).

They followed a 2-0 win over Wrexham with a draw against Hull City, before they claimed back-to-back 2-1 home victories over Preston North End and Bristol City.

While they currently have the joint third-best home record, Birmingham will head to Fratton Park with the league's joint third-worst away record, having collected just 19 points from their 22 road trips this season.

In fact, they have taken just one point from their previous five road trips since enjoying a run of three consecutive away victories. 

Portsmouth Championship form:

Birmingham City Championship form:

Team News

© Imago / Pro Sports Images

Portsmouth will head into the final game of the season without the services of Terry Devlin, Zak Swanson, Mark Kosznovszky, Keshi Anderson, Gustavo Caballero and Franco Umeh.

Backup goalkeeper Josef Bursik was given the chance to start at Stoke as part of a much-changed side, but his first appearance since January ended in disappointment after being forced off inside four minutes with a quad issue.

First-choice Nicolas Schmid could return to the side, while there could also be recalls for Marlon Pack, Regan Poole and Conor Chaplin.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon defender Lee Buchanan and forward Kyogo Furuhashi due to knee and shoulder injuries.

Ibrahim Osman is also a doubt for the final matchday after missing the win over Bristol City due to concussion protocols.

Midfielder Tomoki Iwata is pushing for a recall after coming off the bench to play the final half-hour of last Saturday's home contest. 

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Williams, Poole, Dia, Ogilvie; Pack, Dozzell; Segecic, Chaplin, Blair; Bishop

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer, Wagner; Paik, Iwata; Vicente, Stansfield, Gray; Priske 

We say: Portsmouth 2-1 Birmingham City

Portsmouth have won their last two home league games, and given the fact that Birmingham have lost four of their previous five away matches, we think the hosts will come out on top on Saturday. 

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