Birmingham's Momentum Meets Portsmouth's Stubborn Streak: Championship Preview

Saturday 12 December 2026. Portsmouth host Birmingham in the EFL Championship. On paper it looks like a mid-table fixture. It is not. One of these sides is building something. The other needs to decide what it is.

Portsmouth: Decent But Not Convincing

Portsmouth have taken five points from their last five Championship matches. Two wins, two draws, one loss. The thing is, that record flatters them slightly. They are not being blown away, but they are not blowing anyone away either. Their goals against tally sits at five in that sample. Their clean sheet rate is twenty per cent. That is one clean sheet in five.

Portsmouth beat Swansea three goals to one on the third of November, and that is their best result in this run. They drew a blank against Burnley on the thirty-first of October, then went and lost to Stoke City one goal to two on the seventh of November. That Stoke result bothers me. It was their most recent match going into this one. Last impression counts in this division.

They have two long-term absentees. The injury list does not help when you are already stretched for consistency. Listen, injuries are part of football. They are not an excuse for the basics going missing.

Birmingham: This is What Winning Looks Like

Birmingham have won four of their last five Championship matches. They have scored eleven goals in that sample and conceded only three. Their clean sheet percentage across those five matches is forty per cent. That is a team that has figured out both sides of the pitch.

They beat QPR three goals to nil on the seventeenth of October. They beat Lincoln City three goals to one. They beat Millwall three goals to nil on the third of November. Birmingham beat Swansea two goals to one on the seventh of November. That is four wins, and the only blemish is a one-nil defeat to Cardiff City on the twenty-fourth of October. One bad day in five. Every title-challenging side has one.

The desire in this Birmingham side is obvious. They are competing. They are executing. End of.

Head to Head: One Meeting, One Draw

These two sides have met once in the data we have. The match on the second of May 2026 ended one goal apiece. Both teams scored, neither kept a clean sheet. One meeting is a sample too small to build a pattern from. What it tells me is that Portsmouth can compete with Birmingham. What it does not tell me is whether they can do it when Birmingham are in this kind of form.

The Bet

Birmingham's away form is the standout number in this preview. Four wins from five on the road. Eleven goals scored. Only three conceded. Portsmouth's home record over the same window shows goals going in at both ends eighty per cent of the time and a defence that has only kept one clean sheet in five.

The thing is, this matchup looks like a Birmingham win. Their standards right now are simply higher. Portsmouth might make it uncomfortable, they usually do at home, but uncomfortable and a result are two different things. I am backing Birmingham to win this one. One selection. No accumulator nonsense. Birmingham to win.

Portsmouth need to show desire from the first whistle. If they come out with the same attitude that let Stoke walk away with three points, Saturday will be a long afternoon at Fratton Park.