Sky Sports pundit makes Portsmouth Championship survival call as they vie with Leicester City, Oxford United & Co to stay up

Sky Sports pundit makes Portsmouth Championship survival call as they vie with Leicester City, Oxford United & Co to stay up

Sky Sports’ EFL pundit Don Goodman gives his view on Pompey and the Championship relegation picture.

Pompey need to find 10 points to avoid being relegated to the Championship.

And the Blues’ Fratton Park showdowns with Leicester City and Oxford United have been pinpointed as potentially defining in their battle for second-tier survival this term.

Sky Sports pundit on Pompey: ‘They need to start picking up wins quickly’

That’s the view of Sky Sports pundit, Don Goodman, who admitted to being perplexed by John Mousinho’s home struggles, which has seen them pulled into the heart of the relegation scrap.

Goodman felt that the Blues were virtually assured of their place in the division for a third season, following impressive back-to-back wins on the road at Charlton Athletic and Millwall last month.

It’s been six games without a win since, however, with four straight defeats at PO4 along the way, to leave Mousinho’s men just a single point outside the drop zone across the international break.

Goodman has expressed his surprise at Pompey’s plight, with the former Wolves and West Brom striker impressed with their general level of performance of late – before the weekend annihilation at QPR.

Now the EFL expert believes the Blues need to find 10 points from eight games, comprising home wins over their relegation rivals.

Don Goodman: Pompey need to beat Leicester and Oxford at Fratton

Speaking to Grosvenor Casinos before the weekend’s fixtures, Goodman said: ‘It comes down to the last five games for Pompey. Strangely, they have lost their last four at home. Last season, Fratton Park was a real fortress.

‘I actually covered their recent away game at Blackburn and it was a poor match. Both teams seemed more focussed on not losing than trying to win. Portsmouth scored a late goal, but then conceded a sloppy one and ended up with a point instead of all three.

‘The situation has also changed around them.

‘They had back-to-back away wins at Millwall and Charlton and you thought they were in a good place. They were also unlucky in home defeats to Sheffield United and Hull, both 1-0, where they did not deserve to lose. Overall, their performance levels have been decent.

‘However, the first-half against Swansea was poor and they were punished, going 2-0 down at halftime. They cannot afford more performances like that.

‘They are now back in a bit of a battle. It had looked like they were almost clear, but they still have to play the top three, which is tough. They also have games against two of the bottom three. If they can win both of those and pick up another four points elsewhere, they should be okay. They need to start picking up wins quickly.’