Portsmouth v Northampton Town: How to watch, kick-off time, team news, predicted lineups and ones to watch

In-form Portsmouth host struggling Northampton Town in League One at Fratton Park on Tuesday night. Kick-off is at 7:45 pm. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the fixture:

Team News

Both sides have relatively few injury worries ahead of Tuesday nights game.

Kenny Jackett will be without striker Ellis Harrison who will be missing for two to three weeks due to a hamstring problem.

Midfielder Micheal Jacobs is also a doubt for Jackett's side as he went off with a knee problem in their win over Sunderland at the weekend.

Other than that, Pompey have plenty of options for their starting eleven on Tuesday night.

Northampton are also relatively injury-free for the fixture. Cobblers boss Keith Curle will have midfielder Scott Pollock and wing back Joseph Mills missing for the game.

Predicted lineups

Kenny Jackett's Portsmouth side are expected to line up in a 4-4-2 formation. Jackett could also give new signing Jordy Hiwula his first league start.

Keith Curle has a reputation this season to change away from his traditional 3-5-2 system and the Cobblers could go four at the back and go for a 4-3-2-1.

Portsmouth: MacGillivray; Johnson, Whatmough, Raggett, Brown; Williams, Naylor, Cannon, Curtis, Hiwula, Marquis.

Northampton Town: Mitchell, Harriman, Racic, Bolger, Adams, Missilou, Sowerby, Rose, Hoskins, Korboa, Ashley-Seal.

Ones to watch

Both Portsmouth and Northampton fans will both be familiar with Pompey striker John Marquis. The experienced 28-year-old scored six goals in 15 appearances for Northampton on their way to the League Two title on 2016.

Since leaving Northampton, Marquis scored 61 goals in 134 appearances for Doncaster Rovers and joined Portsmouth in 2019. The forward has scored 11 goals for Pompey in 41 appearances. He's been going well this season and has already netted three times in seven games for Portsmouth including a brace against Sunderland on Saturday.

If selected, Pompey winger Ronan Curtis could be a threat down the left for Kenny Jackett's side on Tuesday. Curtis already has an assist already this season and will hope to fill the role of Micheal Jacobs who may be missing against the Cobblers.

Curtis was influential in getting Pompey into the play-offs last year, scoring 11 goals in 33 games in League One last season. He also had a good return for Pompey in the 2018-19 season with eleven goals in 41 appearances and is known as one of the best wingers in the division meaning Northampton will need to keep an eye on him on Tuesday night.

Despite being on the way back to full fitness, Northampton winger Nicky Adams will cause problems to the Pompey backline in midweek. Adams has a good record against Tuesday's hosts having scored a goal and three assists against them in his career.

Adams is yet to make a goal contribution this season but was key in Northampton's promotion last season, racking up 16 assists which was the second-best in English football, only behind Kevin De Bruyne who had 20, meaning he'll definitely be one to watch in Tuesday's game.

Another one to look out for in the Northampton ranks is their summer signing Danny Rose. Rose grabbed his first goal for the Cobblers last week in Northampton's win over Swindon Town.

Rose is looking to prove himself in the third tier having spent the last few seasons at Mansfield Town in League Two where he scored 11 goals in 31 appearances for the Stags last season. His impressive Mansfield record earnt him a move to Northampton where he will hope to be influential up top in Northampton's first season in League One since 2018.

Previous meetings

The two sides have faced each other 36 times in their history. Their first encounter was a 1-0 win for Northampton back in October 1920 in a Division Three South match.

Since then Portsmouth have had the upper hand beating the Cobblers 19 times, with seven draws and ten Northampton wins.

Portsmouth are undefeated at Fratton Park against Northampton since 2017. The last time the Cobblers won there was in May 2016 after winning the League Two title.

The sides last met in December 2019 where Portsmouth won by two goals to one in an EFL Trophy clash.