Portsmouth currently sit in a strong position to achieve their first promotion back to the Championship since their relegation in the 2011/12 season. Their hiatus from the second tier has been far longer than many fans would’ve thought and certainly hoped.
However Pompey look to have a great chance of making it back to the Championship this season and currently sit at the top of the League One table. John Mousinho’s men have established themselves as the team to catch, and on the whole, have been the most consistent side in the third tier this season.
Currently sat on 72 points after just 34 games, the south-coast side look to be laying an almighty charge for an automatic promotion spot this year, and based on points-per-game, are predicted to score in the high 90s this season. That should be more than enough to gain automatic promotion and may also in turn capture the League One title.
Portsmouth are clear favourites at this point and have a very healthy six point gap to Derby County in second and then a further three points to Bolton Wanderers in third. Although Derby have a game in hand and Bolton have three, Pompey importantly have the points on the table and could be very hard to catch at this point.
Recent weeks have seen them play some of their best football of the season at a time when they needed it most. Now on a seven match unbeaten run, with six of those being wins, it seems as if the side is only getting stronger. That statement is backed up by the fact that they have scored 12 goals in their last four matches, whilst only conceding three.
Having endured somewhat of a wobble over the festive period, the players have responded incredibly well and have shown that spell was a minor blip rather than signifying the direction that their season would be going. Their title chances were also aided by a frankly superb January transfer window which saw them strengthen in multiple areas across the pitch.
Myles Peart-Harris, Callum Lang, Owen Moxon and Tom McIntyre all look to be very good signings, even if McIntyre is now out until the end of the season. The two former players have however already had rather large impacts on the club, with Lang racking up a very impressive four goal contributions in his first five games for the club. Peart-Harris grabbed his first goal for Pompey at the weekend in their 3-1 win over Cambridge United and walked straight into the team after joining on loan from Brentford until the end of the season.
Pair those additions with already one of the strongest teams in the league and it’s very hard to see past Portsmouth for the League One title this season. The title fight is however by no means over, and they do still have to play both Derby and Bolton home and away respectively. Wins in those games which both came in April should end the conversation, though there is plenty of football still left to be played prior to the commencement of the season on the 27th April.
Pompey seem to have been very much a ‘nearly’ team in recent years but this season seems to be there’s, and the job that Mousinho has done in rather extraordinary. Given that it is also his first managerial job in professional football, it really speaks levels about just how impressive the 37-year-old’s managerial capabilities are. He’ll no doubt go onto bigger and better things in the course of his career, whether that be with Portsmouth or elsewhere, but a League One title would certainly start a legacy.
Their next three games see them travel to a struggling Charlton Athletic prior to welcoming Oxford United to Fratton Park before then going to Bloomfield Road to face Blackpool. Significantly, all three of those games are on a Saturday which should give the players plenty of rest. That is a luxury that Bolton could only dream of given their congested fixture schedule and that may just prove pivotal in the title fight.
At this point in the season, you wouldn’t bet against Portsmouth to achieve automatic promotion and maybe given recent form, even to win the title. The future looks bright under Mousinho and this may only be the start.
Senior Editor