Yang Min-hyeok debut call made, Thomas Waddingham starts – Portsmouth predicted XI vs Oxford
Portsmouth kick off their Championship season against Oxford United this Saturday.
The Blues look set to add to their squad by sealing a season-long loan deal for Yang Min-hyeok from Tottenham.
Yang will be the sixth new signing added to the squad this summer, although Portsmouth still look short of striking options for this game following Colby Bishop’s groin injury.
Below, Pompey News predicts the starting XI for the trip to the Kassam Stadium.
Waddingham to start up front, Yang and Bianchini to wait on bench
John Mousinho is likely to stick with the same XI that started Portsmouth’s most recent friendly against PEC Zwolle.
That means Thomas Waddingham starting up front, supported by Adrian Segecic, with Josh Murphy and Callum Lang on the wings.
Florian Bianchini popped up with an assist in that game, but he’ll likely have to bide his time on the substitutes’ bench, as will new signing Yang.
Read more: Portsmouth pre-season: The winners and losers from Mousinho’s squad
New signing John Swift will make his official debut in a deeper midfield role alongside Andre Dozzell.
Pompey’s back four have established themselves as Mousinho’s first-choice, as Pompey conceded no goals throughout their pre-season campaign.
Portsmouth predicted starting XI v Oxford: Schmid; Williams, Poole, Shaughnessy, Ogilvie; Swift, Dozzell; Lang, Segecic, Murphy; Waddingham.
Portsmouth will expect a positive result against Oxford
Portsmouth had the second-worst away record in the Championship last season, and Mousinho has spoken many times about how he plans to improve on that.
The Blues will certainly be looking to get something from their trip to the Kassam Stadium, as they have a good record against Oxford.
They picked up one of their three away wins of last season against the Us, winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Dozzell and Mark O’Mahony.
Dozzell and Swift will be hoping to establish a dominant partnership in this game, as there is plenty of competition for places in Pompey’s midfield.
Oxford are one of the favourites to be relegated from the Championship this season, and Pompey will be looking to distance themselves from relegation talk by taking all three points on Saturday.
However, given their terrible away form last season, many fans will surely be happy with a draw from this match.
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