Portsmouth

Tom Chappell
Fan writer from Fournilwrittenalloverit

Image source, Rex Features

It took Portsmouth until early November to register a league win at home last season. This time around, we have done it with a day left in August to spare.

A zippy pitch and testing conditions almost always spells victory at Fratton Park and the 1-0 win over Preston North End was no different. In recent seasons, Pompey have consistently settled quicker than their opposition during inclement weather, particularly on home soil.

John Mousinho's team started the much better side, a marked improvement on our last home league game when two goals were shipped within 15 minutes.

We played well for half an hour and when Andre Dozzell's goal came, it certainly went the way of the team looking the more likely to score.

Arguably Pompey's most improved player since joining the club, Dozzell has quietly shone as a top performer from the off this season.

I distinctly remember one of his first games in a blue shirt at home to Sunderland last season, where he lost a challenge in the middle with Chris Rigg and 30 seconds later the ball was in the back of the net.

He looks undeniably much more comfortable a little over 12 months on and at times has a real command of Pompey's midfield.

As the window reaches its climax, there's palpable concern that Pompey may well lose Josh Murphy following reports of interest from two Championship clubs.

I have been pretty firm since speculation began, Murphy's value to us far outweighs any offer for me - especially as late in the window as we are.

His departure would genuinely cast doubt on Pompey's chances of retaining divisional status in the Championship - he is that important to us.

And with such minimal time to look to reinvest any funds generated from his sale, the logistics and timing of it all further enhances the jeopardy. Pompey cannot afford to sell Josh Murphy. Not now.

Find more from Tom at the Fournilwrittenalloverit, external YouTube channel.

Will transfer deadline day prove to be a busy one for Southampton and Portsmouth?

Find out in our visualised two-hour special show as we follow all of your club's deadline day business. Watch here at 18:00 BST.

Alex Howell
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Portsmouth are getting closer to completing a permanent deal for Crystal Palace forward Franco Umeh.

One source who has spoken to BBC Sport suggests the fee could be around £500,000.

Umeh has been on the bench for Oliver Glaser's side on a few occasions but has not made a senior appearance for the club.

The 20-year-old joined Palace from Cork City in 2023 and has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level.

Image source, Rex Features

The future of Portsmouth winger Josh Murphy remains uncertain heading into the final hours of the summer transfer window.

The 30-year-old has been linked with a move to Leicester City and on Saturday it emerged that Portsmouth had rejected a bid from the Foxes for their star player.

BBC Radio 5 live reporter Chris Wise said , externalthat the bid fell "quite a way short" of Pompey's valuation.

Portsmouth's stance is that he is not for sale and Blues boss John Mousinho reiterated this after Saturday's 1-0 victory over Preston which Murphy played 90 minutes in.

"The only message I've been told is he isn't for sale and I'm pretty happy with that," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent after the game.

He then jokingly said that it would take a £50m bid from Real Madrid for them to even consider selling the winger.

Last season in the Championship Murphy scored seven goals and registered 14 assists as Portsmouth secured their second-tier status.

Clubs would have until 19:00 BST on Monday to finalise any deal for the attacker's services.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Rex Features

Not a pretty spectacle or a particularly impressive performance but another victory to continue a very solid start to the season.

Pompey seem to play well in fairly short spells at present, their excellent end to the first half produced the game's only goal.

They defended resolutely in the second half albeit against a Preston team lacking quality in front of goal. Nico Schmid barely had a save to make.

Josh Murphy was far from at his best but still contributed a few key moments most notably another brilliant cross for Colby Bishop which forced an excellent save from Daniel Iversen.

Pompey simply must keep hold of him over the next 48 hours.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho says he has been told by his recruitment team that Josh Murphy "is not for sale".

"I've switched off from all that - it's down to the recruitment team and that's ins and outs," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"The only message I've been told is he isn't for sale and I'm pretty happy with that."

Mousinho was speaking after his side's 1-0 win against Preston North End at Fratton Park.

"The performance was okay - defensively we were solid," he said.

"We just didn't really kick on after scoring the goal - when things got more difficult in the second half we didn't get it in the net and we had the chances to do so.

"Andre [Dozzell] has been great - he's grown and grown into his role at the football club."

Leicester are interested in signing Portsmouth winger Josh Murphy, 30, before Monday's transfer deadline. (Pete O'Rourke, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Friday's gossip column here.

After a win and a draw on the road, John Mousinho's Portsmouth will be looking for their first Fratton Park points of the season as they host Preston North End on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Paul Heckingbottom's side suffered their first loss of the season to Wrexham in the EFL Cup on Tuesday but remain unbeaten in the Championship with two wins and a draw, toppling Premier League returnees Leicester and Ipswich in their past two matches at Deepdale.

• Portsmouth have won just two of their past 13 league games against Preston North End (D5 L6), though one did come in this exact fixture last season via a 3-1 scoreline.

• After losing on their last visit to Fratton Park 3-1, Preston North End will be looking to avoid losing successive away league games against Portsmouth for the first time since September 1967.

• Portsmouth players have combined to win 194 duels in the Championship so far this season – the most of any side in the competition.

• Preston have failed to win any of their past eight away league games (D3 L5) and since the start of April last year, have won just three of their 29 fixtures on the road (D10 L16) – no ever-present Championship side has won fewer.

• In the Championship this season, no player has made more tackles than Preston's Ali McCann (13), whilst he's one of only six players in the competition to record 10+ tackles and 10+ ball recoveries (13).

Andre Dozzell hopes Portsmouth can ensure a "really good start" to their Championship campaign when Preston visit Fratton Park on Saturday.

The 26-year-old has played every minute of Pompey's opening three league games as the Blues began with a win at Oxford before following up the narrow home defeat by Norwich with a creditable point at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Dozzell told BBC Radio Solent: "Preston are on a high at the minute, they've just beaten Ipswich 1-0 with a solid performance.

"We're expecting a tough game but we know if we are on it, at home, with the fans behind us, coming away with three points would make it a good start to the season.

"Seven points from four games, I think that's a really good start, but it's early, we have just got to keep working hard, take it game by game."

The visit of North End is the final match before the international break, with the next fixture the hotly-anticipated trip to Southampton for the south coast derby on 12 September.

"We've got to focus on Preston but obviously Southampton is such a big game, everyone's looking forward to it," Dozzell added.

"Hopefully we can get three points on Saturday and then have the international break when we can really focus on our game plan - it's going to be a good occasion for us.

"You can feel it around the city, when Southampton came down we knew it was going to be a huge game, especially for the fans."

"I think all round it was a really good point, and a really good performance against West Brom, I'm not sure you can ask much more from the team.

"If you think a year ago Pompey would go to those games and, yes, they got early draws against Leeds and Middlesbrough but let's be honest they were complete flukes."

Is it too early to talk about the Championship table?

Chris Wise joins Andy Moon to discuss Portsmouth's positive start to the season as they stopped West Brom making it three wins out of three last weekend.

There's also a look at the transfer window and of course your questions answered in Moon's Musings.

Listen to the full episode of Who Needs Mourinho and more on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth have further subsidised the cost of coach travel for fans heading to the 'high risk' south coast derby at Southampton on 14 September.

The fixture will be the first between the sides at St Mary's in more than 13 years with the only more recent meeting between the bitter rivals an EFL Cup tie at Fratton Park six years ago.

Blues fans must use club-managed travel to get to and from St Mary's for the 12:00 BST Sunday kick-off and the club have decided to cover the full damage insurance costs for coach operators rather than passing the cost on to fans.

A club statement, external said: "We are conscious of the high cost of attending this much anticipated contest for our supporters.

"The price of travelling to the game has been exacerbated by damage insurance costs for coach operators for what is a high-risk fixture.

"The club had already absorbed the cost of the added facilities that are required, as well as a proportion of these damage insurance costs, but after careful consideration we have decided to subsidise these additional damage insurance costs in full."

The move will drop the price of coach travel down £4.50 per person to £18.

Tom Chappell
Fan writer

Image source, Rex Features

Pompey were good value for, and fully deserved, their point at The Hawthorns.

A magical Josh Murphy ball with postage stamp delivery for Colby Bishop, a first-class combination that is just vintage John Mousinho's Pompey.

One of the best headers I've seen the man with the magic hat score in a Pompey shirt, and probably Pompey's best performance of the season.

I remember making the same walk out of the away end at The Hawthorns in January completely dejected and pitying what Pompey had served up that day.

This weekend we departed with real optimism and plenty of signs of progress to take.

Much may be made of the refereeing performance from a Baggies point of view - there's respective arguments for both a penalty against Pompey and a second yellow for Regan Poole.

Pompey were completely luckless with decisions from officials for a large part of last season so it's pleasing to see that somewhat fall our way.

After the goal, the substitutions positively impacted proceedings, with Luke Le Roux's introduction in particular catching the eye.

This Pompey squad is providing us with evidence that it is good enough to compete with some of the league's better sides away from home.

Take any away game last season, and without wishing to constantly compare and contrast, nine times out of 10 at 1-1 away from home Pompey would come away with absolutely nothing to show from the game.

This weekend, and a fortnight ago at the Kassam, the boys dug in, stayed switched on and ultimately emerged with the point.

Belief is often a keynote to Mousinho's press conferences, and if we can get that mindset right then we could well be competing with interest sooner rather than later. We've certainly got the talents on the pitch to do it.

There may be few teams who travel to West Brom and get anything from there this season - and depending on how the campaign develops, that point could prove to be even bigger than it already feels.

The countdown begins for one of the most anticipated away fixtures of this club's recent history - before that, an inaugural home league win would round off a more than acceptable opening month of Pompey's 25-26 season.

Find more from Tom at the Fournilwrittenalloverit, external YouTube channel

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Rex Features

John Mousinho said he doesn't want to keep referring back to last season but a day like Saturday does highlight the progress his side have made away from home.

Yes, the marginal refereeing decisions went Portsmouth's way. On another day Regan Poole could have been sent off and after a tight penalty decision went against Connor Ogilvie last week, this time one went in his favour.

West Brom had control at times but chances were fairly even at both ends. Josh Murphy and Colby Bishop remain key for Portsmouth and combined for a fine goal. For Pompey to have a great season, others will need to step up in front of goal as well.

Luke Le Roux was full of energy in midfield after coming off the bench for a league debut and must be pushing for a start next week.

Championship leading goalscorer Isaac Price will look to add to his goal tally as West Bromwich Albion put their 100% winning start to the season on the line against Portsmouth on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Portsmouth's one win so far this season came away from home at Oxford United so John Mousinho's side can be encouraged by visiting The Hawthorns.

• West Brom are unbeaten across their last eight home league games against Portsmouth (W6 D2), since a 3-0 defeat at The Hawthorns in February 1998.

• Portsmouth have failed to win any of their last four league games against West Brom (D2 L2), last enduring a longer such run against the Baggies between 1987 and 1994 (nine games).

• West Brom have won each of their last three league games and will be looking to win four on the bounce for the first time since September 2024.

• Portsmouth have won two of their last three away league games (D1), one more than across their prior 16 fixtures on the road combined (D2 L13).

• Isaac Price has scored three goals in West Brom's opening two league games so far this season and boasts the league's fourth-highest non-penalty expected goals (xG) total (1.3).