Portsmouth's next 5 games predicted as QPR and Derby County lie in wait
Football Manager 2026 predicts how Portsmouth will fare in their five Championship fixtures over the festive period.
Portsmouth face a challenging set of fixtures of the Christmas period as John Mousinho’s men look to move away from the Championship relegation zone.
It all gets underway on Saturday afternoon when Pompey travel to Pride Park to face Derby County before returning to Fratton Park to host Queens Park Rangers on Boxing Day. A quickfire return to home soil comes on the final Monday of 2025 when Charlton Athletic come calling before Mousinho’s side hit the road once again by making a New Years Day visit to Bristol City. The final fixture of a potentially pivotal run of games comes on the first weekend of the new year as Pompey entertain an Ipswich Town side looking to return to the Premier League this season.
As it stands, Portsmouth are sitting one point and one place above the relegation zone and there are a whole host of key fixtures across the bottom end of the second tier over the next three weeks. That will mean Pompey will know a lot more about their prospects for the second half of the campaign by the end of an intriguing run of games - but how could they are over the coming weeks? We take a look with the help of Football Manager 2026.
How does Football Manager 2026 predict Portsmouth will fare over the Christmas period?
20th December: Derby County 3-0 Portsmouth
A grim start to the festive period for Mousinho and his players as they are comfortably beaten at Pride Park. Most of the damage was done inside the opening half-hour as the Rams seized control of the game thanks to two penalties from Chile international Ben Brereton Diaz. Pompey struggled to create chances throughout a poor display and their hosts extended their lead and ended any hopes of a comeback when Carlton Morris extended their lead nine minutes after the restart.
26th December: Portsmouth 2-0 Queens Park Rangers
If you are going to bounce back, why not do it in front of the Fratton Park faithful. The scoreline doesn’t truly reflect just how dominant Pompey were in this game as they had 18 shots on target and enjoyed 68% possession throughout a fully deserved win. An opening goal game on the quarter-hour mark as Colby Bishop headed home from a Terry Devlin cross and the win was all but secured just before the hour when Conor Chaplin rounded off a fine team move to secure the points for Mousinho’s men.
29th December: Portsmouth 1-1 Charlton Athletic
It’s hard to know how to assess this one as Pompey dominated possession and chances but found themselves a goal down when Charlie Kelman fired the visitors into a half-time lead. However, the Addicks were reduced to ten men just two minutes after the restart after Kayne Ramsey was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Zak Swanson. Pompey took their time to find their equaliser but it finally arrived just a minute from time when Josh Murphy’s free-kick snatched a point for Mousinho’s side.
1st January: Bristol City 0-0 Portsmouth
There really isn’t much to say about this stalemate at Ashton Gate other than to say Pompey earned themselves a credible point against an in-form Robins side. The two sides only created a handful of chances throughout a surprisingly low-key 90 minutes.
4th January: Portsmouth 1-3 Ipswich Town
A poor start to Pompey’s home fixtures for the year as they wasted an early lead given to them by a Colby Bishop header and fell to a fully deserved defeat against the Tractor Boys. Bishop’s tenth minute effort gave Mousinho’s side a perfect start - but they were pegged back by an Ibane Bowat own-goal on the half-hour mark before goals either side of half-time from Chuba Akpom and Kasey McAteer gave all three points to the visitors and left Pompey just one point clear of the relegation zone.