Portsmouth take on the visitors Derby in the round 38 match of English Championship. The match will be played on Monday, March 16th at Fratton Park (Portsmouth).
Portsmouth are a club with historical achievements but a very complicated fate. After returning from League One before the start of last season, they accomplished their first task in the Championship, comfortably securing their place there: with 54 points they finished in 16th position. Recently their form has been rather unstable, as the team has struggled to maintain consistency from match to match. Home performances have also been mixed, which explains why Portsmouth still cannot feel completely safe in the table. However, instead of the expected progress, a downturn has followed. Very timely in February they managed to beat both Charlton and Millwall in succession — 3–1 away in each match. But after that came defeats to Wrexham and Hull City. Yes, they managed to secure a 1–1 draw with Blackburn Rovers. But then at home they conceded twice against Swansea City, responding with only one goal after the break.
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Derby County may simply be playing out the season. The Rams are rated no lower than their opponent in terms of past achievements. But they also only returned to the Championship level in 2024. Moreover, even there they finished just one point ahead of relegated Luton Town, 50 against 49. Recently Derby have shown slightly better stability in results, although they still struggle to compete with the stronger teams in the division. Their away form remains inconsistent, which often prevents them from turning decent performances into positive outcomes. Still, they have managed to improve noticeably this season — not enough to challenge for promotion to the Premier League, but at least enough to lose clear tournament motivation by spring. This probably explains the growing number of defeats already in February. They revived recently, although the opponents were rather modest — Blackburn Rovers and especially Sheffield Wednesday, who have a negative points total and plenty of problems. So it is not surprising that they managed to beat this pair. But the stronger and more motivated Millwall secured a 1–0 victory at home against them.
Since they began meeting regularly again in 2022, starting from League One level, six of the last seven matches have ended in draws, and only in December the year before last did The Rams win — and in emphatic fashion, 4–0. Neither side has been particularly impressive, so taking the home factor into account, the pick is a Portsmouth win with a draw no bet handicap.
Prediction for the match: Portsmouth to win with 0.0 handicap.
