Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Pompey are without loan signing Kieron Freeman because he played for parent club Sheffield United in the FA Cup.
Ben Close could replace Adam Barton or Michael Doyle and leading scorer Conor Chaplin, Adam McGurk, and Christian Burgess could also return.
Bournemouth have captain Tommy Elphick back in the squad after ankle surgery but Junior Stanislas (knee) is out for this game and probably two more weeks.
Cherries boss Eddie Howe is likely to rotate his squad.
Editor’s Note: A South Coast Derby is the order of the day as League Two Portsmouth play host to Premier League Bournemouth this Afternoon with Pompey hoping to claim one of the biggest scalps of the Weekend and edge past their local rivals.
There was a time when the sides were in the opposition divisions but it’s a long time since Portsmouth 2008 Cup win and now Paul Cook’s side find themselves in the play off places of League Two and 7 points off an automatic Promotion place
With it being a local Derby the atmosphere will no doubt be charged for the return of Eddie Howe who spent 2 years at Fratton Park between 2002 and 2004 although his time wasn’t the most enjoyable as he only played twice due to long term recurring injuries
But that was a long time ago and now Howe is trying to mastermind Premier League survival after winning The Championship last season. He currently finds his Bournemouth side 4 points clear of the drop zone in 16th position so the task is by no means complete but today the focus is on the Cup.
Howe who was linked with the Chelsea Manager’s role in the week will probably use today’s fixture as a chance to rest key players so it will be interesting to see just how much focus he puts on the Cup or whether it’s all about being 17th or above come the end of the season.
In the previous round they had the better of Birmingham City on the road with a well changed team and even though a local derby has a habit of throwing the form book out of the window, I think The Cherries won’t have too many problems and should make it safely to the 5th Round. An away win for me
