Aiming to climb away from the bottom three in the Championship table, Portsmouth will travel to Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

The visitors remain rooted to the foot of the division on -7 points, while their visitors are just a point above the drop zone.

Match preview

Sheffield Wednesday return to Championship action on Saturday in search of just a second victory of the season, having endured a miserable campaign thus far.

Facing issues with a limited squad and deductions totalling 18 points after entering administration in October, the Owls sit at the bottom of the table on -7 points, having won one and lost 16 of their 25 league outings thus far.

That solitary victory came away to Saturday’s visitors in the reverse fixture in September, but Henrik Pedersen‘s men have since managed just seven points from the last 19 attempts in England’s second tier, most recently suffering back-to-back 3-0 away beatings to Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers to begin 2026.

Those games saw Pedersen’s men surpass 50 goals conceded in 25 league games, having only scored 18, and they went on to host Premier League Brentford in the FA Cup last Saturday, losing 2-0 as Keane Lewis-Potter and Mathias Jensen scored either side of the interval.

Now trailing 23rd place by 29 points and their 21st-placed visitors by 32 with 21 games left to play, Sheffield Wednesday will hope to rebuild a degree of confidence with a long-awaited home win to lift a Hillsborough crowd on Saturday.

© Imago / IMAGO / Pro Sports Images

Their visitors, meanwhile, head to South Yorkshire aiming to avenge the September home loss to the Owls and give their own survival hopes a boost.

After comfortably avoiding relegation in their first season back in the Championship last time around, Portsmouth endured a tough first half to the 2025-26 campaign, sitting on just 17 points from 19 games after three consecutive losses late last year.

John Mousinho‘s side would put an important run together in December, beating Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic either side of a pair of draws to move above the bottom three, but the upturn in form was brutally halted in a New Year’s Day trip to Bristol City.

That game ended in a 5-0 thrashing at Ashton Gate, with Sinclair Armstrong scoring a brace after goals from Adam Randell, Anis Mehmeti and Scott Twine.

Now on the back of a 4-1 home loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup, having led early through Colby Bishop, Portsmouth turn full focus to their Championship bid and will hope to extend their one-point lead over 22nd-placed Norwich City with a return to winning ways at Hillsborough.

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Portsmouth Championship form:

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Team News

© Imago / Imago

Sheffield Wednesday are without first-choice goalkeeper Pierce Charles, who suffered an injury in the FA Cup loss to Brentford, meaning Logan Stretch will earn a first Owls start between the sticks.

Charles joins a growing list in the treatment room, with Di’Shon Bernard, Ernie Weaver, Dominic Iorfa, Liam Cooper, Max Lowe, Nathaniel Chalobah, Olaf Kobacki and Ike Ugbo all out of action.

Given the extensive absences, particularly in defence, Liam Palmer should line up in a back three with Gabriel Otegbayo and Cole McGhee, while left-back Harry Amass, who shone in the first half of the season, has returned to parent club Manchester United.

Portsmouth continue to face several injury issues of their own, with Florian Bianchini, Josh Knight, Mark Kosznovszky, Callum Lang, Josh Murphy and Harvey Blair all set to miss out.

In the absence of Lang, Murphy and Blair, John Swift may come in to join Colby Bishop, Conor Chaplin and Adrian Segecic in attack.

Marlon Pack may replace Luke Le Roux in the engine room, while Regan Poole and Conor Shaughnessy have managed to reform a centre-back pairing in recent weeks after ongoing injury issues.

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:

Stretch; Palmer, Otegbayo, McGhee; Fusire, Ingelsson, Bannan, Thornton, Johnson; McNeill, Cadamarteri

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Devlin, Shaugnessy, Poole, Swanson; Dozzell, Pack; Segecic, Swift, Chaplin; Bishop

 

 

We say: Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Portsmouth


 

While Sheffield Wednesday managed to get one over on Portsmouth at Fratton Park in September, they now find themselves with an even more threadbare squad and lacking any confidence.

Despite their last two results, we can only envisage Portsmouth taking all three points at Hillsborough.

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