Inside the bitter rivalry between Saints and Pompey

This will be only the 72nd meeting between Southampton and Portsmouth, with Sunday's hosts having won 35 to the visitors' 21

It has been more than 2,000 days since bitter rivals Southampton and Portsmouth last faced each other - a 4-0 victory for Saints in the League Cup in September 2019.

Rewind to the most recent league meeting between the pair and you go all the way back to a 2-2 draw in April 2012.

Since that moment, the two clubs have been on quite different paths to get to Sunday's highly anticipated derby in the Championship.

Southampton enjoyed success in the Premier League and a European campaign in those 13 years, while Pompey faced financial troubles and dropped all the way down to League Two before beginning their ascent back to the second tier.

That time apart has done nothing to dampen the rivalry between Hampshire's two biggest football clubs, with just 17 miles separating Southampton and Portsmouth.

In terms of major trophies, Portsmouth have won two English league titles and two FA Cups, while Saints have an FA Cup win to their name from 1976.

Since their most recent league meeting, Southampton enjoyed a run of 11 consecutive seasons in the Premier League, including four top-10 finishes and a taste of European football.

Portsmouth have not been in the top flight since the 2009-10 season when they were relegated, and after two Championship campaigns they then suffered back-to-back relegations, falling all the way to the fourth tier.

The origins of the rivalry

Since the start of the century, Portsmouth and Southampton have only played each other six times in league fixtures

While there are natural rivalries between the cities and their ports, those between the two sets of supporters are shrouded in "mythology", according to Colin Farmery, chair of trustees at the Pompey History Society.

A much-circulated story among fans has always claimed it stemmed from Southampton dockers breaking a Portsmouth picket line in the 1950s, leading to both sets of supporters calling each other by derogatory names.

"There's all sorts of talk around why the names came about for what they call each other, and most of it is nonsense, to be honest," said Farmery.

"There's no evidence to back that up.

"While the naval and commercial element is there, I'm not convinced it has a bearing on the rivalry itself. It is predominantly a sporting rivalry."

Since the turn of the century the two sides have only played each other on 10 occasions, and during the entire 1990s they only met once in the FA Cup.

There were only three derbies during the 1980s and in the 1970s they played four times - and in total the two clubs have only met 72 times in 125 years.

"The last derby was in 2019, and that was a long time for the grudge to be held," added Farmery.

"There's a lot of build-up over a long period of time and because that boil doesn't get the chance to be lanced often enough, that contributes to the ferociousness of the rivalry."

Southampton club historian Duncan Holley believes the fact that Saints have traditionally finished higher in the football pyramid has also fuelled the rivalry.

"In the past 64 seasons, Saints have only been below Portsmouth in finishing terms on seven occasions," he said.

Holley said that relative success annoyed Portsmouth fans and "by the time the 1960s ended there was a lot of animosity coming from Portsmouth to Southampton".

He added: "Saints fans then retaliated and decided to match the feeling, and that's how it all became.

"There is always rivalry between any neighbouring town, and this was initially a friendly competitiveness, but that really petered out. It's become a bit of a cult and I see it as one of the strongest derbies around."

Redknapp switch fans the flames

A figure who ramped up the animosity between both clubs in the mid 2000s was manager Harry Redknapp.

A few weeks after leaving Pompey in 2004, Redknapp made the controversial move up the M27 to Southampton having previously vowed that there was "no chance" of him doing so.

The following month the two sides were drawn together in the FA Cup, with former Pompey striker Peter Crouch scoring a 90th-minute penalty to win the fourth-round tie for Redknapp and the Saints.

But it was Portsmouth that then ended up winning the next two times that the rivals met by handsome scorelines, with five years between the games.

In April 2005, Portsmouth won 4-1 in a highly-charged atmosphere, with Redknapp emerging to a chorus of boos as he made his first return to Fratton Park.

It was a result which contributed to Southampton finishing bottom of the Premier League while Pompey stayed up.

Then in February 2010, en route to the final, they beat Saints by the same scoreline away at St Mary's in the FA Cup.

Their most recent league meeting before this campaign was the 2011-12 Championship season where both games ended in score draws.

That campaign ended with Southampton winning promotion back to the Premier League and Portsmouth, amid significant financial problems, tumbling into League One and a fall down the pyramid which took them years to recover.

Southampton rebuilding under new boss Still

Will Still took his first managerial job in England with Southampton

Southampton won promotion to the Premier League in 2012 and spent 11 seasons in the top flight, with a highest finish of sixth in that period.

In the 2016-17 campaign they enjoyed a memorable stint in the Europa League, which included a famous 2-1 win over Italian giants Inter Milan.

However, things took a turn in the 2022-23 season. They started the campaign with Ralph Hasenhuttl as head coach and, after Nathan Jones' brief tenure, ended it with Ruben Selles at the helm, and were relegated.

Russell Martin led Southampton to promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt via the play-offs, but Saints then struggled in the top tier once again, with Martin and his successor Ivan Juric both paying the price for poor results.

The latest rebuild project is spearheaded by new boss Will Still, who has taken his first step into managing in England after impressing in France with Reims and Lens.

He became the youngest coach in Europe's top five leagues when appointed by Reims, aged 30, in October 2022.

The Portsmouth resurgence

John Mousinho led Portsmouth to the League One title in his first full season in management

After relegation from the Championship in the 2011-12 season, Portsmouth then faced another drop as they found themselves in League Two for the 2013-14 season.

Following a number of ownership changes, the club ran into some serious financial troubles and were on the brink of bankruptcy.

However, in April 2013, Pompey became the largest community-owned football club in England when the club's supporters trust raised about £2m through a share ownership scheme and ended up buying the club and consequently saving it.

Current owner Michael Eisner bought the club in 2017, and has since put millions of pounds into football operations and infrastructure at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth won promotion from League Two that same year under Paul Cook, finishing top of the division, and spent seven years in League One before winning the title in the 2023-24 season.

Boss John Mousinho joined midway through the 2022-23 season, just one year after gaining his pro licence, and was able to deliver the League One title in his first full season in management.

Last season, Portsmouth maintained their Championship status with two games remaining, eventually finishing 16th.