Blues are in eighth spot in the table and have reached the 40 point mark. There are 21 points and 11 places between the two teams.

Michel, Craig Gardner and Stuart Parnaby all come into contention for a start after Alex McLeish spoke of making some changes to tonight’s starting 11. Still unable to play due to injuries are Lee Carsley (ankle) and Garry O'Connor (hip).

Ricardo Rocha misses the game for Portsmouth because of suspension and missing out due to injury are Kevin-Prince Boateng (ankle), John Utaka (groin) and Hassan Yebda (knee) Aaron Mokoena is also doubtful because of a knee problem.

Talking about tonight’s game Alex McLeish said:

"I don't think revenge is a word we use (following Saturday's FA Cup exit). We played well certainly in the first 45 minutes. I was very pleased and at half time we came in pretty comfortable.
But when you've not got the goal it makes it still a very dangerous game and with Portsmouth having a lot of very good players in their team then you can never rest. They upped a gear a little bit in the second half and they got a goal from a set piece which was a little bit fortunate the way it ended up in the back of the net. From then it was about chasing the game away from home and they played us on the counter attack and got a quick goal. I expect us to bounce back whenever we've had a reverse but I can't guarantee anything. Portsmouth won't to be seen by anybody in the league as lying down and giving up their league games and they'll want to keep a bit of momentum for their FA Cup semi final game and they've got a lot of good players, so there is no way you can disregard Portsmouth"

The referee for tonight’s match will be Mike Jones. The Cheshire-based official has refereed 24 games so far this season, in which he has produced a total of 83 yellow cards and four reds. The last Blues game he took charge of was in December against Blackburn Rovers when Blues had a 2-1 victory at St. Andrew's. Mr Jones will be assisted by Darren Cann from Norfolk and Mike Mullarkey from Devon.

Fratton Park has not been the luckiest of stadiums for Blues in recent years, Blues have not won there in there past eight visits including Saturdays F.A Cup match. The last win was in March 1999 when Blues came away with a 1-0 win. There have been 93 games between the two sides in total, Blues have come out on top 40 times, Pompey 28 and there have been 25 draws.

When the two sides met in the reverse Premier League fixture earlier in the season at St.Andrews Blues won 1-0 after James McFadden scored a last minute penalty.

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