Preview | Portsmouth v Swansea City
Swansea City travel to Portsmouth for their first outing of an away double-header on Tuesday evening (7.45pm).
Vitor Matos' side bounced back in style from two consecutive defeats with a dominant 4-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, and head to the south coast before facing Birmingham at the weekend.
Pompey come into this fixture unbeaten in five fixtures, having won their last home game against Millwall. John Mousinho's side haven't lost at Fratton Park since the beginning of September.
Team news
Swansea are waiting on the fitness of midfielders Stephen Eustaquio and Marko Stamenic for the trip to Portsmouth.
Eustaquio came off with a groin issue during the win against Blackburn, while Stamenic missed out against Rovers due to illness.
Ronald and Cameron Burgess are longer-term absentees, while Moussa Yeo will also be absent.
Josh Key made his return from a hamstring injury against Blackburn.
Pre-match views
Vitor Matos: "It is always good to start a week like this with a win, now we have two away games, two really hard games.
"We have had to quickly assess the players, and prepare for a game at a ground that is a really hard place to go to.
"They have been consistent this season, particularly at home. They are a really good team.
"In this league it is not always easy to have consistency, so you have to look to your performances and understand what we are doing well and what we can improve on to make sure we are competitive.
"We know that what happens in the previous game does not guarantee anything for the next game because it's a ruthless league.
"So what happened Saturday does not guarantee we win again, so we have to have the focus on what we can control, which is trying to competitive and trying to show a proper performances. We will have big support with us again, and we want to show them a team that represents the values of the club and the city."
John Mousinho: “Right now, though, we’re just looking at facing Swansea. They’re one of the early pacesetters and – aside from a couple of anomalies – have an excellent defensive record.
“But we also saw on Saturday that they are capable of tearing sides apart. They are very dangerous and we’ll have to be at the top of our game.
“We’re on a good run of form right now, though, and the backing of the crowd got us through recent home games, so we’re looking forward to returning to Fratton Park.”
Meet the officials
Matt Corlett will be the man in the middle for Swansea City’s trip to Portsmouth this evening (7.45pm).
Tonight's fixture at Fratton Park will be his third Championship game of this campaign, with Corlett having overseen Blackburn’s 2-0 win over Wrexham last weekend.
So far this season, in all competitions, he has taken charge of seven games, issuing 30 yellow cards and no reds.
Corlett will be assisted by Andrew Fox and David Harrison, while Will Finnie will serve as the fourth official.
Remember the last time?
Wonderful strikes from Ethan Galbraith and Josh Key saw Swansea City secure a much-needed win on their travels as they held off a late fightback from Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
Vitor Matos’ side had much the better of the first hour on the south coast, keeping the home side at arm’s length and looking a threat with the ball.
They got their rewards when Galbraith dispatched a drive into the far corner at the end of a move that had started with a fantastic raking pass from Lawrence Vigouroux.
Key then doubled the lead before the break with a strike that floated over the head of the keeper from 25 yards.
Jacob Brown’s close-range finish gave Pompey a route back into the game, but the visitors were able to see out the final quarter of the game and emerge with the three points.
Prime numbers
2 - The Swans have won just two of the last 15 league games between the sides, but those wins came in completing a league double over Pompey last term.
3 - Swansea are bidding to win three league games in a row against Portsmouth for the first time.