📏 Form Guide

Portsmouth

LWDDWL ⚖

Portsmouth won’t want a repeat of their last result here following a 5-0 Championship defeat last time out to Bristol City.

In that game, Portsmouth had 38% possession and 5 attempts at goal with 2 of them on target. Bristol City had 14 shots at goal with 7 of them on target. Adam Randell (11'), Anis Mehmeti (24'), Scott Twine (50') and Sinclair Armstrong (59', 93') scored for Bristol City.

It’s been seldom in recent games that Portsmouth have shown defensive steel. The reality is that Portsmouth have seen their defence breached in 6 of their previous 6 clashes, giving up 10 goals during that time.

Arsenal

WWDWWW 📈

Arsenal come into this meeting following on from a 2-3 Premier League win with the eclipse of Bournemouth in their most recent fixture.

In that game, Arsenal managed 57% possession and 12 attempts on goal with 5 of them on target. For Arsenal, the scorers were Gabriel Magalhães (16') and Declan Rice (54', 71'). For their opponents, Bournemouth got 15 shots at goal with 3 of them on target. Evanilson (10') and Eli Junior Kroupi (76') scored for Bournemouth.

Arsenal have seen success in front of goal leading up to this encounter, scoring 13 times in their last 6 matches. This doesn’t mask the fact that Arsenal can also improve defensively after being scored against in 5 of those same outings. That sort of trend might not follow through here, however.

🤜🤛 Head to head

An examination of their past head to head meetings going back to 26/12/2007 tells us that these fixtures have not been fruitful for Portsmouth. They’ve not managed to get themselves any victories whatsoever while Arsenal have been dominant against them, finishing as winners in 83% of those ties.

A combined sum of 16 goals were scored between the two sides throughout the course of those matches, with 2 for Pompey and 14 belonging to The Gunners. The average number of goals per game works out to 2.67.

🗞️ Team News: Arsenal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has a number of players out of action. Max Dowman (Ankle injury), Cristhian Mosquera (Ankle injury) and Riccardo Calafiori (Muscle injury) are names that won’t be on the team sheet.

🧠 Prediction

In this match, Arsenal should create a decent amount of chances and shots on target.

In contrast, Portsmouth won’t find it easy getting goals- but, we do see them scoring.

We’re predicting a controlled 1-3 winning score for Arsenal after 90 minutes.

Andre Moura, 09:01 08/01/2026