Two sides with identical records from their opening seven games clash, as Portsmouth host Watford under the Fratton Park lights.
EFL Championship
Our Three Predictions For Portsmouth vs Watford:
- First Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Match Result – Portsmouth – 6/5
- Second Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Under 1.5 Goals – 4/11
- Third Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Both Teams To Score – No – 1/1
First Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Match Result – Portsmouth – 6/5
While only one of these managers is under pressure, both need a victory to move well clear of the bottom three. Three points for Watford on Saturday helped do just that for Paulo Pezzolano, but doubts remain over his long-term future in Hertfordshire. That is always a sentence that every Hornets manager must feel given their record of sacking managers. John Mousinho is a man under much less pressure than his counterpart, but he will be aware this fixture represents their best chance to record three points this month. With an incredibly difficult run ahead of them, expect Pompey to record a much-needed three points to put daylight between themselves and the relegation places.
Second Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Under 1.5 Goals – 4/11
With six goals in Pompey’s three league games to date, Fratton Park is hardly the place to go for fans expecting goals. But it continues to be one of the more intimidating stadiums in the English Football League, despite their early-season form. Only Sheffield United have scored fewer times this season, while of Watford’s seven goals across all venues, only one has come away from home. Expect that theme to continue tomorrow, when the only goal of the evening should come for the home side.
Third Prediction For Portsmouth vs Watford: Both Teams To Score – No – 1/1
Despite the Hornets’ poor scoring form away from home, they have only shipped three goals, which is one of the best figures in the Championship. Portsmouth have a similar record in defence on the South Coast, conceding four goals from their first three games of the season. Pompey average a goal against from their opening seven games, but expect them to keep a clean sheet under the Fratton Park lights.
Best Odds For Portsmouth vs Watford
| Bookmaker | Portsmouth | Draw | Watford |
| NRGBet Sports | 6/5 | 23/10 | 11/5 |
| Bet442 Sport | 6/5 | 23/10 | 23/10 |
| 7bet Sports | 6/5 | 7/3 | 9/4 |
The table above shows the latest odds from leading football betting websites.
Full Preview Of The Game: Last Results And Head-To-Head:
After Portsmouth survived their first season back in the Championship last season, expectations were raised after a successful summer off the pitch. Boyhood Pompey boy Conor Chaplin was the biggest signing in a busy window for John Mousinho’s outfit, but they have had a difficult start to the new campaign thus far. Chaplin was absent at the weekend against his parent club Ipswich Town, where Marlon Pack’s late consolation wasn’t enough to spark a comeback for the visitors. It continued a difficult return from the international break, after they handed Sheffield Wednesday their first three points of the season the Saturday prior. After Owls skipper Barry Bannan put them infront from a free-kick, George Brown scored on his Championship debut in controversial circumstances. After Conor Shaughnessy went down injured, Brown appeared to contemplate putting the ball out of play, before racing forward to double Wednesday’s lead. Pompey’s only other game in September was the first league instalment of the South Coast derby for thirteen years, where they will feel they deserved more than a point. Andre Dozzell struck the bar before the Saints responded in the second period, but neither side could make the breakthrough.
Looking back at the opening month of the season, Adrian Segecic scored on his first competitive appearance in blue and white at Oxford United on the opening day. But Portsmouth were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Reading, despite another stoppage-time goal. After losing at Norwich City, they were perhaps fortunate to take a point at West Bromwich Albion, where the hosts were aggrieved not to receive a penalty, which resulted in Baggies boss Ryan Mason being dismissed. Dozzell ended Preston North End’s unbeaten start to the season on the penultimate day of August, giving them a welcome three points. October presents plenty of challenges for the side from the South Coast, with leaders Middlesbrough up next. In fact, each of their next four opponents are all in the top five in the second tier, with a trip to Leicester City before consecutive home games against Coventry City and Stoke City.
Paulo Pezzolano eased some of the pressure on him after coming from behind against Hull City on Saturday. Nevertheless, his bizarre post-match dressing room speech continued to raise questions, with the mood more befitting of a defeat, rather than victory. Imran Louza’s goal on the hour mark was followed by a winner in the final fifteen minutes from Vivaldo Semedo, on a day where defeat would have left them in the bottom three. It had followed consecutive one-goal defeats since the first international break of the campaign, against Blackburn Rovers and Millwall, which had left them perilously close to the bottom of the Championship. It had followed a difficult first month of the season, beginning in the worst possible manner at Charlton Athletic. The Addicks, on their return to the second tier, condemned Pezzolano to a losing start with a stoppage-time winner.
That tough start continued when Norwich City netted twice in the opening 24 minutes at Carrow Road to knock them out of the League Cup at the first stage, but they won the more important fixture back in league action against Queens Park Rangers. Luca Kjerrumgaard netted a first-half brace on their way to a first three-point haul of the campaign. The Hornets ended August with back-to-back draws, heading for a rare win on the road at Swansea City before a late home equaliser, while fighting back twice against Southampton in a pulsating draw. A home game against Oxford United looks, on paper at least, their best chance of getting three points in October. A tough encounter at Sheffield United, who finally got off the mark against the U’s last weekend, is quickly followed by games against promotion-contenders West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City.
One figure who is expected to miss this fixture, much to the annoyance of both sets of supporters, is Watford winger Kwadwo Baah. In the fiery Boxing Day encounter last season, when the Hornets scored an injury-time winner, the German was sent off after goading the visitors, which created a melee between both sets of players. He missed April’s one-nil loss at Fratton Park with a muscle injury that limited his involvement in the second half of last season. Once a regular fixture earlier this century, the two meetings last season were the first encounters in over a decade, with Pompey holding the advantage in the overall head-to-head record.
Confrontation01/10/2025 Championship Championship 
Portsmouth 
Watford 2 2 21/04/2025 Championship Championship
Portsmouth
Watford 1 0 26/12/2024 Championship Championship
Watford
Portsmouth 2 1 Last Results - Portsmouth
|
Where To Watch Portsmouth vs Watford:
Where can I watch the game, either on TV or in person?
- Location: Fratton Park, Portsmouth
- Date: Wednesday 1st October, 2025
- TV Channel: Sky Sports+
Probable Lineups For Portsmouth vs Watford:
Predicted Portsmouth Lineup:
- Lineup: Bursik, Swanson, Knight, Poole, Ogilvie, Pack, Swift, Kosznovszky, Chaplin, Min-Hyeok, Bishop
- Suspended/Injured: Shaughnessy, Murphy, Waddingham, Schmid, Lang, Blair
- Coach: John Mousinho
Predicted Watford Lineup:
- Lineup: Baxter, Alleyne, Keben, Pollock, Petris, Mendy, Kayembe, Ngakia, Louza, Semedo, Irankunda
- Suspended/Injured: Baah, Chakvetadze, Dwomoh
- Coach: Paulo Pezzolano
