Portsmouth v Birmingham: upturn in form meets top-half push | OneFootball

Portsmouth and Birmingham City meet in the Championship at Fratton Park on Saturday, 2 May 2026, with the hosts finishing strongly and the visitors eyeing a late climb.

Birmingham City won 4-0 in the reverse fixture in November, but the context is different now as Fratton Park hosts the penultimate weekend.

Portsmouth have four wins in their last five league games, beating Ipswich, Leicester and Stoke with only a heavy loss at Coventry in between. Birmingham are unbeaten in four since losing at Ipswich, taking three home wins around a draw at Hull.

Portsmouth are without Keshi Anderson, Josef Bursik, Zak Swanson and Terry Devlin among others. Birmingham miss Kyogo Furuhashi and Lee Buchanan.

Birmingham tend to control more of the ball, averaging 54% possession and 78.78% pass accuracy, and have scored 56 league goals. Portsmouth sit on 50% possession with 48 scored and 63 conceded, but deliver a steady supply from wide areas with 19.23% cross accuracy in open play. Adrian Segečić leads the home threat with 10 league goals, while Marvin Ducksch and Jay Stansfield have 10 each for Birmingham. One caveat for the visitors is their away output: 19 points on the road versus 44 at home.

A win would move Portsmouth to 57 points and could lift them from 18th towards the pack above. Birmingham would reach 66 points and could climb from 10th, strengthening their top half finish with a final day push still to come.