Portsmouth boss’ powerful message over leaders maintaining incredible pace as Oxford United, Bolton Wanderers, Peterborough United, Derby County & Co give chase

The Blues boss feels there is the belief and confidence in his squad’s ranks to maintain the record-breaking form they are producing this season.

But Mousinho acknowledged there’s no space for complacency, however, with their rivals refusing to allow his side to break clear of the pack with a third of the season played.

Pompey have so far accumulated 35 points which translates into 2.33 points per game.

Maintaining that rate for 46 games would see them record 107 points this season - a total no side in the EFL has ever reached before.

It’s a huge ask to continue that run, but Mousinho is clear on how achievable it is.

When asked if their form is sustainable, the Pompey boss said: ‘From our point of view, yes it is.

‘We obviously want to go into every game and try to win it. That’s the whole point. If we didn’t think it was sustainable then what’s the point of being here?

‘We are very positive of where we want to go, but at the same time wary of the challenge. We’re positive and optimistic with the outlook, but have to back it up with a lot of hard work.

‘We don’t want to set points targets, but we’re going into every game thinking we can win. That’s the way we want to approach, we’re just really positive.

‘We’re never going to downplay what we can achieve this season, but at the same time we’re not going to overplay it because there are plenty of sides who want to shoot you down.’

Mousinho acknowledged even he didn’t necessarily anticipate Pompey flying out of the traps in the manner they have so far this term.

The 37-year-old feels his team’s efforts to date is simply a consequence of the work put in across the summer, with the challenge to keep it up in a relentless division.

He added: ‘It’s obviously great and we’re thrilled with the start.

‘We’re possibly in a position we didn’t anticipate, but all the work that we’ve done has culminated in where we now.

‘We just need to keep going. It’s a great start to the season and we’re a third of the way through. We just need to keep the hammer down because league football is unrelenting.

‘You never get a chance to take your foot off the gas, and when you do in terms of league fixtures you have to play two games in three days with the Cup - which we enjoy by the way.

‘The league is very tough so we have to make sure we keep going and do all we possibly can to take care of business at our end, because, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, every other side in the league is very competitive and they’re chasing behind us.’