Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday: Fratton Park braced for biggest crowd of the season as tickets are snapped up

On Monday, the Blues confirmed that all home tickets for the game against the Owls had been snapped up.

That followed news last week that the Yorkshire outfit had sold out their allocation for the away end, with 1,600 Wednesday fans set to descend on Fratton Park for the 3pm kick-off.

The match could attract Pompey’s biggest gate of the season, with the fixture coming at a key stage in both sides’ League One campaigns.

Darren Moore’s Owls are closing in on the third-tier title and a return to the Championship, with victory at PO4 allowing them to move a step closer to their season goal.

Wednesday also have a proud League One record to protect, with the Hillsborough outfit unbeaten in the division since October 8 and winning 10 of their past 11 games.

As for the Blues, recent progress under John Mousinho means the door hasn’t been closed entirely on their play-off hopes.

Up until now, the Blues’ biggest home attendance of the season is the 19,009 that attended their 2-2 draw with Plymouth back in September.

Work continues in the Milton End with home fans not likely to be allowed back in there until the end of March.

Nevertheless, the popularity of the Sheffield Wednesday game means another huge crowd is on the cards – and one that will exceed Pompey’s average home attendance for 2022-23 – 18,054.

Back in July, 2,135 Blues fans made the trip to Hillsborough for the season-opener against Wednesday.

That game finished 3-3, with 26,901 fans in attendance.