Irons v Pompey

Pompey and West Ham take their perennial fixture once more, rarely do these two teams to be far apart divisionally wise, shame this time is not the top flight though!

West Ham are probably the championship equivalent of Man City, like Leicester they have splashed the cash in pursuit of a quick return to the top flight, this though makes them pariahs in some eyes, lots will want them to fall on their faces, all will want their scalp.

At home so far though it has not all gone to plan, an opening day defeat to Cardiff was followed by an entertaining draw with Leeds and defeat to Aldershot in the Carling cup.

Pompey have been ok on the road without being spectacular, 2 points from 2 games a fair reward.

West Ham could change half the team with debutants if Allardyce desired, chances are though Diop will be on the bench, Lansbury looks likely to step into Parkers shoes, Bentley may make the cut and Demel and Baldock will have to bide their time also.

Rob Green looks like making a full recovery after pulling out of the England squad last week.

The hammerheads want a new hero now Parker has departed, Henri Lansbury may well be that man, he has shown glimpses of talent in a few Arsenal cameos, but with England U21's has really shown his worth, both scoring and creating.

Pompey were quiet on deadline day, that's if you discount the debacle in Spain that evening, Mullins has made a return to full training to be in with a shout of playing on familiar turf, Ben haim is nailed on to start at a club that hopefully has a point to prove to.

Up front is where the guessing game starts for Pompey, Benjani is obviously champing at the bit for a 90 minutes, another of couple of weeks at Pompey will have improved his fitness, while Huselkepp had a quiet full debut against Cardiff. Futacs looks worthy of a spot on the bench at least, he seems to have impressed in training and is a big imposing alternative to what we already have.

The standard is set very high now, JP looks like a captain in waiting, against West Ham he will have his credentials tested further.

Pompey's last win against the Thames Ironworks was in 2008, Niko Kranjcar scoring the only goal, as it stands Pompey have only won 3 times there, all in the last 5 years!

Rat Scabies

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Away to Hull and back

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