Match Day Thread Portsmouth v Bristol City

Saturday 29-11-2025

Well back to reality after the performance at Wrexham-

Not sure what to expect to be honest a city side up for it or a city side still in sleep mode.

One thing for sure pompey will be right up for this game. They sit 20th in the division on 17 points and will fancy their chances against us.

predictions -

Portsmouth and Bristol City will both be looking to bounce back from midweek defeats when they face off in Saturday’s Championship meeting at Fratton Park.

The hosts will head into the weekend in 20th place in the table, while the Robins are just a point outside the playoffs in seventh spot.

Match preview
Portsmouth returned from the international break with a 3-1 success in last Saturday’s home clash against Millwall, ending a six-game winless run in the second tier.

Unfortunately for Pompey, they were unable to build upon that result in Wednesday’s away meeting with Sheffield United.

Terry Devlin was shown a straight red card in the closing stages of the first period after he handled the ball on the goalline.

Sydie Peck dispatched the subsequent spot-kick, before Patrick Bamford and Gustavo Hamer found the net in the second period to condemn Pompey to a 3-0 loss and prolong their 60-year wait for a win at Bramall Lane.

As a result of the defeat, Portsmouth have now gone seven away games without a win and will enter the weekend with just a two-point buffer to the bottom three.

John Mousinho’s side will now return to Fratton Park with hopes of claiming back-to-back home wins for the first time since enjoying a run of three successive home wins in February and March.
Bristol City's top-six bid has lost momentum with just one win from their last five Championship encounters (D1, L3).

The Robins ended a three-game winless run with a 3-0 success against Swansea City last weekend, only to fall to a 2-0 defeat in Wednesday's away meeting with Wrexham.

A Nathan Broadhead effort and a Radek Vitek own goal condemned the Robins to their second defeat in the past three away contests.

Despite experiencing a dip in form, Bristol City are just a point adrift of the playoffs and four points away from the automatic promotion spots.

Their hopes of claiming all three points this weekend may be tempered by the fact that they have failed to win their last four away matches with Portsmouth since they recorded a narrow 1-0 win in April 1999.

This will be Gerhard Struber's second managerial meeting with Portsmouth after his Barnsley side fell to a 4-2 defeat in an FA Cup fourth-round tie in January 2020 - a game which saw current Pompey players Jordan Williams and Conor Chaplin feature in the Austrian's lineup.

Portsmouth Championship form:

L L D L W L
Bristol City Championship form:

W L L D W L
We say: Portsmouth 1-1 Bristol City
Bristol City will be keen to return to winning ways against a side that are languishing near the drop zone, but they tend to struggle for victories at Fratton Park, and with that in mind, we think they will have to settle for a point on Saturday.

“Could definitely backfire”: Portsmouth vs Bristol City predictions
The72’s writers offer their Portsmouth vs Bristol City predictions ahead of the Championship clash on Saturday.
Portsmouth hosts Bristol City at Fratton Park on Saturday with both sides pushing to secure all three points.
Portsmouth are currently two places above the relegation places as they welcome Bristol City to Fratton Park. John Mousinho‘s side will be looking to secure three points to try and stay away from the relegation zone as we enter a busy period.
Portsmouth and Mousinho have claimed some big scalps at Fratton Park this season, claiming a 1-0 win against Middlesbrough and that win over the Lions last weekend. It shows they’re more than capable of turning their home ground into an intimidating place to visit.
Bristol City’s form coming into the Portsmouth game offers both promise and caution. Their 3–0 win over Swansea City underlined how effective they can be when they’re in control of a

match
. However, defeat at Wrexham and the heavy 5–1 loss at Stoke City show how vulnerable they can be on the road.


The Robins have just dropped out of the play-off places, so they’ll be looking for a result on Saturday to climb back up from 7th place.
Summer appointment Gerhard Struber has had his side playing some exciting attacking football, but he will need them back to their dangerous best to get back on track against Portsmouth.

Here, a handful of our writers make their prediction for the game…
Louie Truman
“Both teams come into this fixture on the back of midweek losses, so Portsmouth and Bristol City will be looking to bounce back this weekend.

“Pompey will be looking to move further away from the relegation zone and Bristol City will look to secure points which will potentially take them back into play-off places.
“When looking at head-to-head results, five of the last 11 fixtures between the two sides have ended in draws. With both sides looking to bounce back from poor midweek fixtures, I can see this ending as a draw, especially given the mixed form of the visitors.”

Prediction: Portsmouth 1-1 Bristol City

James Ray
“Portsmouth have now won just one of their last eight. That victory over Millwall was something to build on, but they were pushed aside with ease by Sheffield United on Wednesday.

“Back at Fratton Park, they have to start well and get the fans behind them. Bristol City are a strong team, but they’re on a poor run of their own.

“The Robins have the attacking threat to punish Pompey if they put in another lacklustre defensive display. I do think we’ll see a home side very eager to respond here though.

“This could definitely backfire, but I’m going to go for a hard-fought Portsmouth win.”

Prediction: Portsmouth 2-1 Bristol City

Me i would settle for a draw however my head says if we are serious about promotion we should be winning this game.

1-2 Bristol City

 

Personally thought on another day we could have won at Wrexham, we’re at the least worthy of a draw. Things are bunching up in the table, we really need a win on Saturday.

 

Our form is poor one win in 5 is not good enough-i am amazed we are still only one point out off top six. Think we might start sliding down the table in December.

 

Recent results would back this up RR.
However, I would point out the following:
- The draw at Watford was a good performance with a depleted squad.
- The Swansea win was a great performance all round.
- The Wrexham result flattered them and was a combination of poor refereeing and a fluke goal conceded.
- We are just getting some of our injured players back now which can only be a good thing.

I’m pretty cautious as a rule, but I am not panicking yet.

 

Trouble with city they are either on it or of it- you just do not know what team is going to turn up.

 

We've been without our best midfielders along with the loss of Atkinson and McNally so I'm amazed we're just outside the playoffs.
I think our squad is mid table at best and most on here think Mehmeti's our biggest threat to the opposition.
He's the best we have, may the Lord help us.

 

There's a lot of hard hitting truths being posted on this and what will almost be a loud home crowd facinng us at Fratton Park. The gloss has truly worn off last season's euphoria of reaching the play-offs, but you have to remember that we were playing as badly as we are now and with (IMO) better players available for first team duties as well as off the bench. Only 4 points from the last possible 15 leaves us struggling to gain back momentum and if we continue on this downward trend through and into the New Year I think we can forget any possibilty of reaching last season's highs but maybe see more lows that can be imagined. Despite all of the negative comments there could be a lifeline and it is called the January Transfer Window and perrhaps someone could pass on that information to the person responsible for evaluating and bringing in newbies to make the squad more competitive but please don't give it to anybody who might make a mess of the whole idea and leave us deplete of good players in return for bad ones.

Based on all of the comments what would be your approach to the transfer window and who might be sent packing because I think we currently have too many players pretending to be of Championship standard.

 

inconsistent players I would say Mike.
We just do not have a Scooby doo what side is going to come out on the pitch.

 

Scarey isn't it?

 

Hasn’t this been the case ever since we arrived in this league all those years ago?

 

A rare away game for myself. A friend is ill, so I have his match ticket and train ticket. Forgetting all the football stuff, is the 10..22 from Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth still so packed you can crowd surf?

 

I would think so, yes

 

Probably won’t see much (if any) of this one.
Off to visit Antequera by train and I doubt if I’ll find any bars showing the game.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for the scores on my mobile though - driving the Mrs nuts by looking at my phone all the time
Actually tbf she’s as interested in the scores as I am!!

 

Pretty much every team in the top 15, except Cov could say that. This season has been very inconsistent for almost all teams.

 

Got on at bradford on avon once thinking we were clever and would miss it all which makes no sense at all, train to pompey turned up noses to the window like a sweat box condensation down the windows like a tide!!!

worse on the way back after pompey met city at fratton bridge for a row and the police insisted with charm that you are all leaving on the next train and only the next train or the dogs are on you!!!!!

 

Very true inconsistent team hot or cold.

 

Last time i went down there it kicked off big time- stones were being thrown into our end our lot were going mental lions caged in the away end went off big time.

 

Agreed.
Look at Oxford beating Ipswich last night.
Everyone can beat everyone in this league.

 

Knight not in the match day squad. I wonder if he’s struggling post injury, he had zero impact on his 2 sub appearances, which is most unlike him.