Portsmouth

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Shutterstock

At this point of the season, it's normal to have a group of players coming to the end of their contracts. It's also common for negotiations to go on to the back burner until the end of the campaign.

This is what happened at the end of Pompey's promotion season from League One and to a lesser extent last summer.

But it's not the case this time around. John Mousinho has been open that talks are ongoing, external and a quick look at the starting XI in recent weeks would help explain why.

Connor Ogilvie has played pretty much every match when he's been fit this season. Zak Swanson has appeared in 28 of Pompey's 33 Championship games. Both have impressed away from their regular position. You don't want to lose players like this.

Marlon Pack and Andre Dozzell have both been strong contributors again. Pack might be 34 but is still impacting matches. Dozzell hasn't managed to maintain his brilliant form from the first couple of months of the season but is always solid and dependable.

Keeping all four, or at least attempting to, would seem sensible - although Portsmouth's current plight complicates things.

Income is higher in the Championship than League One, therefore wages are higher. While Portsmouth have put themselves in a good position to avoid relegation their fate is far from certain, which doesn't help.

Jordan Archer hasn't even been registered to play this season so will surely depart. Reuben Swann and Harry Clout have failed to set the world alight on non-league loans. They are both still young and can improve but seem some way off playing in the Championship.

Toby Steward has had an excellent loan spell in Scotland with St Johnstone, although it's understood his contract is not set to expire this summer. There's belief that he can challenge for the number one jersey in the future.

Portsmouth's football set-up means Mousinho doesn't deal directly with agents. That side of the business is handled by Richard Hughes, allowing the head coach to focus on footballing relationships with his players. He still has a say in club business but distances himself from negotiations.

There are only nine weeks left of the EFL season. We may not have to wait that long for contract news at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth go into this game five points clear of the Championship's relegation zone although a two-game winning streak on the road was ended by defeat at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

For their part, Hull City halted a two-match losing sequence by beating Derby in midweek and will hope to complete a first league double over Pompey for nearly 60 years.

• Portsmouth are winless in their past four league games against Hull City (D2 L2), last having a longer run against the Tigers between 1974 and 1980 (D3 L2).

• Following their 3-2 win in November, Hull City are looking to complete their first league double over Portsmouth since 1966-67.

• Portsmouth lost their past home league match and have only twice lost consecutively at Fratton Park since the start of last season (September 2024 and October 2025).

• Hull have won their past four away league games, last winning five in a row on the road in April 1966 in the third tier.

• Joe Gelhardt has scored more away goals than any other Hull player in the Championship this season (five), and has netted four goals in his past six starts on the road.

"You think Oxford will have to go some to catch Pompey from here, but you can see Leicester winning three games in a row, especially under Gary Rowett, you can see someone coming in and turning West Brom around with the players they have got, it feels like Michael O'Neill has already turned Blackburn around.

"There still isn't an obvious third team who are going to go down.

"To me the massive elephant in the room is Leicester. It's a total mess from the football authorities. They are appealing against the six-point deduction, the Premier League are appealing because it's only six points, wanting 12 to 20 points.

"They said they want to get this done by the end of the season but if this drops at the end of April, whether they stay up or not could ultimately could come down to the points deduction, which is what nobody wants, and didn't have to be the case."

BBC Radio Solent's Chris Wise and Andrew Moon look back on a big win for Portsmouth at Millwall as well as the defeat by Wrexham.

They also discuss the situation at the bottom of the Championship including the elephant in the room in the relegation battle.

Your questions are also answered in Moon's Musings.

Click here to find more episodes and subscribe to the Portsmouth FC page on BBC Sounds.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

It feels easy to describe that defeat as "one game too far" for Portsmouth. In some ways it was, but in others it was a match that got away.

Pompey were dominant for much of the second half but struggled to carve Wrexham open. They paid for a very poor second quarter and once again failing to defend a near post corner.

Losing John Swift to a hamstring injury is a blow but at least it comes at a time when Conor Chaplin is fit again. This run of games was always likely to challenge Pompey's thin squad.

At Millwall, Portsmouth put in a 90-minute performance. They could not match that against Wrexham and they still lack a cutting edge at times. But this team remains in a decent place.

The bottom of the table is fairly chaotic and things can change quickly but keep playing as they have been and Pompey should survive.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho praised his side for an excellent second half performance despite losing 2-1 at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

"The old cliche, it was a game of two halves," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"I think we completely dominated the second half. I was really disappointed with the first goal, the second was a set-piece that stems from a foul but the less we say about that the better.

"I thought it was really poor officiating all night and it was just a shame that we gave ourselves so much of a mountain to climb because we were superb in the second half.

"Coming off the back of the third away game on the spin, coming here against a side that has just run riot at home, I thought we were much the better side.

"It was one of those nights if it had been 1-0 at half-time, the outcome is probably different. We finished strongly, we looked really fit, we need to show a little bit more belief on the ball.

"A lot of improvement, I thought we made them look very ordinary in the second half."

Portsmouth forward Conor Chaplin will be available for the side's visit to promotion-chasing Wrexham on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

The 29-year-old has missed the past three games with a groin problem but will be ready for the trip to Wales.

However, there is still no return date for winger Josh Murphy, who has been absent for 11 league games so far after sustaining multiple injuries.

"Josh is waiting for his final consultancy check-up," boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent. "No idea [on his return date]. We will see on Thursday."

Meanwhile, defender Conor Shaughnessy, who has been on the sidelines since January with a hip injury, is expected to return a week on Saturday for the game away to Blackburn Rovers (7 March, 12:30 GMT).

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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Tom Chappell
Portsmouth fan writer from Fournilwrittenalloverit

Image source, Shutterstock

When writing on Wednesday morning, I described Pompey's mammoth result at The Valley as our biggest away win of the season. Four days later and four miles across London, we had an even bigger result at The Den.

The power, physicality and combativeness from our January additions, coupled with a noticeable uptick in both performances and results is no coincidence at all.

Pompey have now already won more away games than in the whole of last season with seven still to play on our travels.

John Mousinho's side started strong from the off and probably reached the break the happier side at 0-0, albeit after a pretty tight opening 45 minutes.

The afternoon's defining moment came when man of the match Gustavo Caballero tucked the first of the afternoon away from the tightest of angles just after the restart.

He had absolutely no right to score from that position yet he did so emphatically and Pompey were up and running. That set the tone for a fantastic second half and meant Pompey were firmly in the ascendancy for the vast majority of the game thereafter.

Two impressively similar John Swift and Marlon Pack goals were punctuated by a momentary defensive concentration lapse - that aside, Pompey had turned up to the third-best side in the Championship at this moment and put on a pretty humbling display for them.

With the double completed over two clubs in a week and six goals on the road from five different players in four days, Pompey are performing much more like a top-end side than one down the bottom. And they became just the fifth side to beat Millwall at The Den this season.

If we were to go and get something, or even win at Wrexham on Tuesday, this might well go down as the best week on the road in Mousinho's tenure.

Any of us would've taken a four-point return from these three away games - and it's maximum points so far.

Watch more from Tom and Fournilwrittenalloverit by clicking here, external.

Image source, Opta

Wrexham will aim to strengthen their grip on a Championship play-off spot as they entertain Portsmouth on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

The Red Dragons saw-off Ipswich 5-3 on Saturday to make it 11 points from their past six games to lie sixth, three points behind the fourth-placed Tractor Boys, though the seven sides below Phil Parkinson's side are separated by just four points.

Back-to-back 3-1 wins at Charlton and Millwall have taken Pompey 19th, six points clear of the relegation zone and made it 10 points from their past five away games for John Mousinho's men.

• Wrexham have won two of their three home league games against Portsmouth, though did lose the last time they hosted them in January 1983 (0-2).

• Portsmouth have lost four of their past five Championship away games against Welsh sides (D1), already going down 1-0 at Swansea this season.

• Portsmouth have lost just three of their past 25 league games against promoted sides (W15 D7), though those three defeats have come in each of the past three seasons (Leyton Orient in 2023/24, Derby in 2024/25 and Birmingham in 2025/26).

• Wrexham have lost just one of their past nine midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games (W3 D5), going down 2-0 at Hull in December.

• Portsmouth have won just one of their past 10 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D3 L6), though it did come in their most recent at Charlton last week (3-1).

• Portsmouth have only won one of their past 27 away games in the second tier against sides whose name begins with 'W' (D13 L13), beating Walsall 2-1 in April 2003.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

A stunning result and a fully deserved victory. This was not a smash-and-grab or counter-attacking performance. Portsmouth more than matched Millwall's intensity and created more opportunities.

The midfield trio of Ebou Adams, Marlon Pack and John Swift looked beautifully balanced. Connor Ogilvie and Regan Poole are an excellent defensive partnership, and Gustavo Caballero and Millenic Alli caused problems on the flanks all day.

Crucially, Pompey's set-piece defending has significantly improved. To outplay Millwall in both boxes is some achievement given where Pompey were less than two months ago.

The January signings have transformed Portsmouth. They still have a lot of work to do to secure their Championship status, but right now they do not look like a side battling at the wrong end of the table.

However, injuries continue to limit John Mousinho's options. Maintaining these levels for two more matches this week in an intense period will not be easy, but Pompey are not a side you would want to play at the moment.

Image source, Getty Images

Boss John Mousinho says Portsmouth's recent improvement can be traced back to the impressive performance in the defeat against Arsenal in the FA Cup at the start of January.

Pompey are now six points clear of the Championship relegation zone following the win over promotion-chasing Millwall - their third win in four matches.

"I know we lost to Arsenal [in the FA Cup], but we were excellent on the day and we've replicated those performances away from home," Mousinho said.

"I think it's come from a reset after [losing to] Bristol City, and a recognition of the fact that we can do both sides of the game pretty well when we put our minds to it.

"To come here and win, against the third best team in the league - we've watched them time and time again be a very impressive side, home and away from home - is very pleasing.

"They've got threats all over the pitch, so to do that off the back of Tuesday [win over Charlton Athletic] was really pleasing. I thought we were excellent throughout."

Image source, Opta

Millwall will aim to keep in touch with the Championship's automatic promotion spots when they welcome a Portsmouth side looking to pull further away from the relegation zone on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

The Lions are five points behind second-placed Middlesbrough and eight points clear of seventh following a run of six wins from their past nine games (D2 L1).

Pompey picked up just their third away win of the season at Charlton on Tuesday night to move four points clear of the bottom three with a game in hand on the sides around them.

• Portsmouth won 3-1 against Millwall earlier this season (November 2025). They last won home and away against the Lions in a league campaign in 2002-03 under Harry Redknapp.

• Millwall have only lost two of their past 12 home league games against Portsmouth (W4 D6), and have won the most recent two, including a 2-1 win in this fixture last season (April 2025).

• Millwall have lost just one of their past 10 league games (W6 D3), going down 2-1 to league leaders Coventry City in January.

• Portsmouth have won two of their past four away league games (D1 L1), more than they did across their first 11 league games on the road this season (W1 D4 L6).

• After losing three of their first four home games in the Championship this season (W1), Millwall have lost just once across their past 12 league matches at The Den (W8 D3), being unbeaten in the past five (W3 D2).

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Eisner doesn't do many interviews on Portsmouth, so when he does speak it feels significant.

Pompey's chairman sat down with American journalist Graham Bensinger for an in depth chat, external about a wide range of topics which was released earlier this week (he also did an "MTV Cribs" style tour around his house for those of a nosey persuasion). Eisner's childhood, Donald Trump and Disney were all on the agenda but intriguingly Portsmouth Football club was the first area covered.

The interview confirmed two things that have long been speculated. Eisner looked at a number of Premier League teams and even opened negotiations before buying Pompey.

BBC South has long understood Reading to be a club he seriously considered buying. Eisner said at the time of the purchase that chief executive Mark Catlin but not the club's board was interested in Eisner taking over.

Bensinger did a pretty good job with the interview although I'd have loved a follow up question on Eisner loaning his sons the money to "make up the deficit" around the purchase. He described the situation as being "a mess" and "financially complicated" but did not elaborate further.

Portsmouth are owned by The Tornante Company, a private equity firm started and controlled by Eisner. All three sons are on the board of directors of the football club. Portsmouth has always been a family business for the Eisners.

Twice Eisner refers to wanting to "build a team up from scratch". That felt a clumsy comment. There's no question that Eisner's significant investment into the stadium and training ground have been important and needed. However, he's built on the foundations laid by the previous owners, the Pompey Supporters Trust and the presidents.

The club Eisner bought in 2017 was only in the state it was in thanks to the blood, sweat, tears and money invested by those two groups. The saving of the club by those groups came at significant personal costs to a number of people.

Eisner is clearly a fan of the new football regulator, which is slowly getting up and running. He is hoping it will reshape the financial landscape allowing sides to have success spending sustainably.

Championship clubs continues to haemorrhage money, as they have done for many years. I don't share his optimism that structural changes will enable clubs to rise to the Premier League spending at a sustainable level.

Whenever Eisner speaks, his fondness for Portsmouth is clear. There has been progress on and off the field under his ownership. Fans will be hoping he can find a way to continue moving forward on both fronts.

Portsmouth winger Harvey Blair may return to the squad for the trip to Millwall on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The 22-year-old has missed seven games with a hip-flexor issue and had been due back for the Sheffield United game on Valentine's Day before encountering issues in his recovery.

"He's been in and out," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent. "He's felt a couple of small niggles that have held him back.

"We will see how he goes today, he's going to do the full training session and we will go from there."

Fellow winger Adrian Segecic should also "be good" for the weekend said Mousinho after spending the Tuesday's win against Charlton on the bench with a dead leg.

Forward Conor Chaplin is due back to training on Saturday after two games out with a groin problem and could make a comeback against Hull City on 28 February (12:30 GMT).

The side will also be without midfielder Andre Dozzell for the trip to the Den, with a return date unknown until Saturday at the earliest, while defender Aji Alese has returned to his parent club Sunderland for treatment on his quad injury.

Winger Josh Murphy could be a week away from a return but an update is needed on his injury before his comeback can be confirmed.

Mousinho added: "If we get good news on the final scan then we will get him back on the grass."

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Image source, EFL

Puma's Rainbow ball will return to the English Football League as part of an on-going campaign against discrimination and homophobia.

The special edition rainbow ball was introduced in 2024 to mark LGBTQ+ History Month and will be used at every EFL game from 20 February until 1 March.

Manufacturers Puma will make a donation to Football v Homophobia for every goal scored with their rainbow ball across the Championship, League One and League Two.

The donations will help support education against homophobia and promote inclusion across the season.

The EFL have released a video, external to coincide with the campaign which features a Preston North End fan who was charged with a hate crime following homophobic chanting during an FA Cup fixture against Chelsea.

The rainbow ball will also feature in EFL partner EA Sports' FC 26 video game.

"The rainbow ball is a powerful symbol of the values we uphold across the EFL all season long," EFL chief executive officer Trevor Birch said.

"It not only reflects our longstanding commitment to ensuring the League is representative of all its diverse communities, but also reminds us that we all have a role to play in creating an environment in which everyone feels they truly belong."

The Portsmouth News' chief sports writer Neil Allen joins Chris Wise and Andy Moon to look back on a big win for Portsmouth at Charlton Athletic as well as the defeat by Sheffield United.

There's also your questions answered in Moon's Musings and an analysis of owner Michael Eisner's recent interview.

Click here to find more episodes and subscribe to the Portsmouth FC page on BBC Sounds.

Portsmouth have to be ready for the challenges ahead despite pulling four points clear of the Championship relegation zone, according to defender Terry Devlin.

The full-back scored twice as Pompey beat Charlton Athletic 3-1 on Tuesday night, their first win after back-to-back league defeats.

Portsmouth now have games against promotion chasers Millwall on Saturday and Wrexham on Tuesday, and the 22-year-old said they have proved they can handle the pressure.

"Tonight [against Charlton] was a big test and we stood up to the challenge," Devlin told BBC Radio Solent. "There's no reason we can't do the same against Millwall and Wrexham."

The victory at The Valley was the second game of five that Portsmouth will play in the space of 15 days, and Devlin said they will have to show plenty of resilience in that run of fixtures.

"You've got to do everything you can to be ready to go Saturday and be ready to be right at it," he said.

"The Championship is relentless. It's physically demanding, so you've got to be on it every single day and be ready whenever."

Listen to more Portsmouth interviews and content from BBC Radio Solent on BBC Sounds.

Tom Chappell
Portsmouth fan writer

Image source, Shutterstock

Tuesday's 3-1 victory at Charlton was by some distance Pompey's best away win of the season - and arguably the most important for a number of reasons.

The fact that this was a game in hand against a bottom end rival, following measly back-to-back defeats cements this as a critical result in the context of Pompey's fight for at least another campaign in English football's second tier.

As the final whistle blew, the players' reaction told you just what an incredibly significant night it was.

Sensational full-time scenes for the 2,500 travelling faithful and the drive home felt like an absolute breeze.

It could easily have been a wholly different story had Nicolas Schmid's outstretched leg not prevented Harry Clarke within the first minute of the game.

What followed was the best 55 minutes we've had on our travels for quite some time.

Three goals all different in nature, fortuitous for the first, pressure penalty for the second and a memorable Terry Devlin special for the third.

The Northern Ireland international is almost a guarantee for player of the season for me.

Ebou Adams has brought a completely fresh face to Pompey's midfield and we had the most we've seen so far from the mercurial Gustavo Caballero.

It almost felt like we got a little giddy at 3-0 and went on to do things we might not otherwise have done had the game been a stalemate.

An hour in, perhaps the neutral would have had Pompey favourites to secure the points, yet those that bleed blue could not relax, knowing full well we've all read similar scripts many times before.

Nathan Jones was quoted post-match saying the away side wanted it more than his players. That will be music to every Pompey fan's ears around the world.

A point from either Millwall or Wrexham and John Mousinho's side will have had a good week on the road.

Anything more than that and relegation concerns might just start to abate for now.

Watch more from Tom Chappell and Fournilwrittenalloverit here, external

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, PA Media

There is only so long before performances can be perceived as good without getting a result.

Tuesday night's win was one Pompey needed, and it was fully deserved on their showing.

Terry Devlin did not start a league game until 5 November. He has only missed one since and is fast becoming one of the first names on the team sheet.

He is exactly the kind of young player - willing to learn and determined to get better - that the owners want to sign.

As with previous weeks, Pompey have not quite been able to maintain a performance for 90 minutes but they weathered the storm in the second half. Injuries limiting their options off the bench does not help.

Portsmouth face two huge tests on the road in the coming days at Millwall and then Wrexham. If they perform as they did at Charlton, they will have a chance of getting something.

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho says his side put in a "really strong performance" in the 3-1 win over Charlton at The Valley on Tuesday night.

"Delighted with the result and we matched it with a really good performance," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"Take the opening minute or so out of it when Nico saved us - it's easy to forget that when you come away with an important away victory, you look at that and it was just a moment of us being lax defensively but then I think that maybe sharpened us up a bit.

"After that, I thought for 55 minutes we were excellent, fully deserved the lead, came out in the second half and Charlton make three changes, you might expect a different game.

"But we came out, fully deserved to get the third goal and it went a bit crazy after that.

"We made a few very strange decisions after that which we hadn't made but the fact we saw the game out in difficult circumstances is really pleasing."