Tonight’s game at Fratton Park between Portsmouth and Chelsea is a game the London club will be desperate to win. It is their game in hand and they will be seeking to get back to winning ways after being dumped out of the Champions League and only managing to draw at Blackburn in their last Premiership outing.
The fact that the south coast club are virtually relegated, thus having nothing to play for, should mean that Chelsea turn up and put in a thoroughly professional performance to come away with three points which they are expected to do. However, Portsmouth have shown that they are a club that will keep fighting and their win against Hull last weekend will boost their confidence to give Chelsea a real test with the majority of the crowd behind them. Should Chelsea win the match they will find themselves just a point behind leaders Manchester United.
Pompey will be without Aruna Dindane and there is mixed team news for Chelsea. They will be delighted to welcome back Petr Cech from injury, but Branislav Ivanovic is out with a knee injury.
The omens are good for Chelsea as striker Nicolas Anelka has scored in each of his last five league matches against Portsmouth and the club has won 12 and drawn one of their 13 Premiership games against Avram Grant’s men. All in all, Portsmouth’s points penalty has lifted the pressure of the players and they have nothing to lose whereas Chelsea have everything to play for.
Prediction: Portsmouth 1-3 Chelsea. A possibly open game should see Chelsea create enough opportunities to return to winning ways.
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