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MIDDLESBROUGH v PORTSMOUTH MATCH FACTS
It's the 99th time that Boro have played Portsmouth in League and Cup combat. Boro are looking for back-to-back Premiership victories for the first time in thirty-two games.
A maximum here would set up Boro for Thursday's UEFA Cup group match against Grasshoppers in Switzerland.
Boro have lost only one of the last six League and Cup matches, but are the Premiership's most vulnerable side in the closing ten minutes of top flight games, having conceded four of the eleven goals shipped this season in the 81st to 90th minute period.
Both corresponding fixtures to date in the Premiership at the Riverside have been draws, as have Portsmouth's last three League trips to Teesside. The home side made plenty of chances but needed a late Shaka Hislop error to claim a draw in this fixture a year ago. Stewart Downing came to Boro's rescue in the 75th minute, cancelling out Diomansy Kamara's fifth-minute opener.
Portsmouth go to Middlesbrough defending an unbeaten Premiership record against us, but they're yet to register a victory in this League on Teesside. Pompey are also on a run of four winless games in League and Cup in the last month. They've not scored in two Premiership games, and have drawn two and lost one of the last three.
The 1-0 win at rock bottom Everton is Pompey's only victory this season. It leaves them one point above the bottom three and is putting their French manager Alain Perrin under some pressure, with only three victories secured in sixteen matches (fifteen Premiership) in his tenure.
Pompey's last win on Middlesbrough turf was a 2-0 victory on 16th April 1994. Their last top flight maximum there was a 5-1 pasting on 3rd September 1949.
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