Pompey welcome Cambridge United to Fratton Park for their latest EFL League One match.
English football's third tier has a full complement of fixtures and the Blues know that they must maintain their unbeaten record if they are to achieve their goal of promotion this season. Portsmouth ground out a 1-0 win against bottom side Carlisle United at the weekend with Paddy Lane scoring the only goal of the game.
Cambridge United meanwhile suffered a home defeat to Cheltenham Town who are battling for their lives. The U's are currently 16th and there's a four-point gap between them and Port Vale who occupy the fourth and final relegation spot. Neil Harris' men would like to create a further gap between themselves and the drop zone however, and this fixture does represent a potential banana skin for Portsmouth.
John Mousinho's side have rediscovered their form since the middle of January however and are four of their last five matches with a 2-2 draw against play-off chasing Oxford United their only blemish. Cambridge's loss to Cheltenham was their first in four matches after they beat Fleetwood Town and Shrewsbury Town and drew with both Exeter City and Burton Albion.
Portsmouth are unbeaten in their last three matches against Cambridge and the most recent meeting was a goalless draw at the Abbey Stadium back in October. Pompey won 4-1 against Cambridge in their last meeting at Fratton Park and that came in August 2022. Colby Bishop, Ronan Curtis, Michael Jacobs and Connor Ogilvie were all on target for Danny Cowley's side that day.
The short turnaround from Saturday means that not much has changed on the injury front. Last week was a hellish week after it was revealed that three players would miss the remainder of the campaign, and now the hope will be that no more players suffer a season-ending fate. Here's the latest injury and team news ahead of Tuesday night's clash.
5. Terry Devlin - out
Terry Devlin is to require surgery on the shoulder injury he picked up against Oxford United. He's expected to be out for three months which will put an end to his campaign. | Jason Brown/ProSportsImages
6. Tom McIntyre - out
Had a red card against Northampton Town which was overturned. Didn't matter though as he's suffered a season-ending injury. He's broken his ankle. Photo: Pete Norton
7. Zak Swanson - out
Nearing a return to first-team action. He's been on the sidelines for the past two months after undergoing groin surgery. | Jason Brown/ProSportsImages Photo: Pompey defender Zak Swanson is nearing a return to training.
8. Zak Swanson - out (continued)
John Mousinho said on February 7: ‘Zak’s doing well and really close to a return to full training - we hope he’ll be back in modified training with the first-team group next week. ‘He’s training out on the grass with the S&C team and doing really well. ‘It’s a real positive because we’re going to have him for at least a couple of months towards the back end of the season." | Jason Brown/ProSportsImages