Under Pressure: Portsmouth-Manchester City Preview

Manchester City head south to Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth tomorrow with much on the line for both teams and their managers.

While Portsmouth Executive Chairman Peter Storrie has repeatedly called for patience from the Portsmouth faithful regarding the club's situation and manager Tony Adams, the side need to starting winning matches before they become further mired in a relegation dogfight.

For City, Mark Hughes has failed to impress the majority of city supporters as the club have continued to under-perform since the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United group.

Particularly after their embarrassing FA Cup loss at the first hurdle against Nottingham Forest, the axe would appear to be getting closer and closer to falling for the former Blackburn Rovers chief.

Former striker Jermain Defoe has completed his return move to Tottenham Hotspur, and with no time for a replacement to yet be brought in, Kanu or David Nugent will likely be given a start in Defoe’s place.

Nugent has been seeing more playing time at Portsmouth than ever before as he continues to search for his elusive first Premier League goal, and is more likely to be utilized in a right-wing role again with injuries damaging Pompey’s midfield.

Pompey are yet to bring in a replacement for departed Lassana Diarra and failed in their first attempt to bring back Gary O’Neil. Both Richard Hughes and Papa Bouba Diop are unavailable due to injury, meaning it will definitely be Portsmouth's weak point in the game..

In addition, right wing-back Glen Johnson is in line to return to the starting lineup after injury, and Armand Traore will likely start on the left side of midfield after being unable to play against parent club Arsenal.

For Manchester City, they will likely be without star striker Robinho, whose form has been incredibly important for their side so far this season.

In addition, Shaun Wright-Phillips is still out with injury and Stephen Ireland is banned, both of whom scored against Pompey in their 6-0 win several months ago.

Positively, new-signing Wayne Bridge is set to make his first appearance for City following his recent big-money move.

At Fratton Park itself, the cold weather that the UK has been experiencing has left questions over if the game will be played or not. With the pitch frozen today, the Portsmouth groundsmen have been hard at work using blowers in an attempt to make the pitch playable for tomorrow’s game.

This will be an important game for both clubs, but I see Portsmouth getting a long overdue win in this one. Robinho’s absence will be a bit of good fortune for Tony Adams, and if City do fail to win, I think it may be the last game Mark Hughes will have managed for Manchester City.