Supercomputer makes surprise Portsmouth prediction ahead of Championship season
Portsmouth have made five new signings in a bid to establish themselves as a major force in the Championship.
The Blues were promoted to the second tier in 2024 and finished 16th last season, despite being embroiled in a relegation battle for most of the campaign.
They’ll be hoping to maintain a healthy distance from the bottom three this time, having made some smart additions to their squad.
However, the Championship is a difficult division, and there will be no guarantees for John Mousinho’s men.
Opta supercomputer predicts improved season for Portsmouth
Data from sports analytics company Opta suggests that Portsmouth will improve on last season’s performance.
Opta’s supercomputer simulated the Championship season 10,000 times based on betting and its ‘Power Rankings’ algorithms that measures the strength of all professional teams.
Based on these calculations, it ranked all 24 Championship teams based on the average amount of points they picked up in each of these simulations.
Portsmouth picked up an average of 60.7 points based on this experiment, the 15th highest total.
This suggests the Blues will enjoy an improvement on the 2024-25 season, where they finished 16th with 54 points.
To many this will come as a surprise, with Portsmouth again being bundled in with the usual relegation candidates by some pundits heading into the new campaign.
The computer suggested Sheffield United and Leicester would finish as champions and runners-up, while Charlton, Watford and Oxford were tipped to be relegated.
Ipswich, Coventry, Southampton and West Brom were predicted to fill the playoff spots.
Portsmouth fans will simply be happy to avoid relegation
After the 1-0 friendly victory against PEC Zwolle, Mousinho promised Portsmouth fans a team that will fight for every ball and every point.
In many ways, that’s all that Portsmouth fans demand.
The majority of the Fratton faithful accept that their team remain underdogs in the Championship.
Pompey have one of the lowest transfer budgets in the division and stayed up against the odds last year.
In Mousinho, they have a manager who’s a savvy operator in the transfer market. On a limited budget, he has created a Portsmouth team that can give any Championship side a tough game, especially at Fratton Park.
| Player | Previous club | Transfer fee |
| Adrian Segecic | Sydney FC | Free |
| John Swift | West Bromwich Albion | Free |
| Mark Kosznovszky | MTK Budapest | Undisclosed |
| Luke Le Roux | IFK Varnamo | Undisclosed |
| Florian Bianchini | Swansea | Loan |
He has strengthened his squad by signing the likes of Adrian Segecic and John Swift, while a number of key players have returned from long-term injuries, so there are plenty of reasons for supporters to be optimistic going into the new season.
At the same time, the majority of fans would accept any position outside the bottom three as being a good season for the Blues.
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