The pre-season favourites for promotion from League Two are Saturday’s visitors to new leaders Northampton Town, a cracking pre-Christmas fixture in front of what should be a very healthy Sixfields crowd.
And both sides go into the game on the back of four-goal salvos at the weekend, the Cobblers triumphing in a thriller at Luton Town while Portsmouth were comfortably seeing off Hartlepool at Fratton Park.
On target in that match were Caolan Lavery and Marc McNulty, on loan from Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United respectively and forming an effective partnership in attack for Paul Cook’s side.
Speaking to local newspaper, The News, in the wake of the Hartlepool match, midfielder Gareth Evans said of the loan pair: “There wasn’t much wrong in terms of the personnel before they arrived and I think they have been the final piece of the jigsaw.
“The pair of them have that spark and have brought that to us as well as the goals.”
For Northampton, former Pompey winger Ricky Holmes will be keen to start the game after continuing his comeback from injury with the winning goal on Saturday, just minutes after coming on as a substitute.