Tomorrow afternoon sees Crewe Alexandra travel to Fratton Park to play 6th-placed Portsmouth. Following an EFL announcement earlier in the week, starting with this game, teams in League One are allowed 7 substitutes but can now bring 5 players on each game rather than the 3 had previously been allowed.
This Season:
The league season started off with a couple of goalless draws against Shrewsbury Town and Rochdale before a home defeat against Wigan Athletic. From there it’s been almost perfect for Pompey, 5 wins from their last 8 games punctuated by home defeats to Doncaster Rovers and Charlton Athletic and a draw at Plymouth Argyle earlier this week.
In the cups, they defeated Stevenage on penalties before going out to Brighton & Hove Albion in Round 2 of the Carabao Cup while they would knock out Ipswich Town after extra time in the FA Cup to set up a home tie against King’s Lynn Town next Saturday. In the EFL Trophy, they finished second in their group following wins against Colchester United and Southend United before a loss to West Ham’s Under-21s (the youngers topping the group) – they will travel to Cheltenham Town in Round 2 early next month.
Transfers:
Pompey have made 6 signings this summer, 4 permanent ones and two season-long loans. Defenders Sean Raggett and Callum Johnson joined permanently from Norwich City and Accrington Stanley respectively with Cameron Pring and Rasmus Nicolaisen both joining on loan. Forwards Michael Jacobs and Jordy Hiwula complete the signings, joining from Wigan Athletic and Coventry City respectively.
They have let 10 players leave permanently, including former Alex players Gareth Evans, while 4 youngsters have joined non-league clubs on loan.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 7
Pompey Wins: 6
Draws: 5
Biggest Alex Win: 4-2 at Fratton Park in December 2001
Biggest Pompey Win: 3-0 at Fratton Park in September 1978
Last Meeting
Portsmouth 0-1 Crewe Alexandra, 4th March 2017
George Ray scored the only goal of the game with 13 minutes left to play.
Alex: Garratt; Turton, Ray, Nugent, Bakayogo; Jones, Wintle, Bingham, Cooke (Cooper 80); Kiwomya (Ainley 90), Bowery
Pompey: Forde, Burgess, Stevens, Clarke, Bennett (Baker 63), Doyle, Linganzi (Chaplin 50), Roberts (Hunt 79), Evans, Naismith, Doyle
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: n/a
Defenders: Arthur Marshall, Ashley Westwood
Midfielders: Gareth Evans, Danny Hollands, Bill Kennedy, Gary Roberts, Kenny Swain
Forwards: Fred Chandler, Harry Clarke, Tom Curley, Fred Haycock, Eric Jones, John Jones, David Pullar, Luke Rodgers, Luke Varney, Fred Worrall
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with James Oldham the referee, Christopher Wade and Damith Bandara are his assistants with Brett Huxtable the fourth official. The only Crewe game that has been refereed by Oldham:
- Mansfield Town 1-1 Crewe Alexandra (8th October 2019) – Finney
