This Week's Opposition: Watford

A closer look at the Blues' next Championship opponent with Express FM's Jake Smith.

Matchday 26 of Portsmouth’s 2025/26 Championship campaign awaits and it’s a midweek trip to Watford on the menu for John Mousinho’s side this time around.

MANAGER

The Hornets are now guided, once again, by Javi Gracia.

The Spaniard returned to Vicarage Road for a second spell in October following the departure of Paulo Pezzolano.

During his previous spell between January 2018 and September 2019, the former Málaga, Rubin Kazan and Valencia boss took the club to an FA Cup Final, though beaten 6-0 by Manchester City at Wembley.

ONE TO WATCH

Moroccan midfielder and Watford captain Imrân Louza is our one to watch this Wednesday night.

The 26-year-old has started all bar 3 Championship games this season, only missing matchdays 3, 4 and 5 due to suspension.

Louza has contributed 6 goals and 7 assists across all competitions so far - He wears the number 10 shirt.

TOP SCORER

Leading the way in front of goal for The Hornets this campaign is Danish striker Luca Kjerrumgaard, who has 8 league strikes under his belt so far this term.

Kjerrumgaard is on loan from Italian top flight side Udinese, who are owned by Giampaolo Pozzo, the father of Watford owner Gino Pozzo.

The 22-year-old wears the number 9 shirt at Vicarage Road and has failed to net in either of his last 4 games.

CURRENT FORM

Javi Gracia’s side sit 8th in the Championship and just 2 points adrift of the Play-Off places heading into this midweek round of fixtures.

Their last outing at home to Millwall on Saturday produced a 2-0 loss and their match before that was a 5-1 loss at Bristol City in the Third Round of The FA Cup.

Prior to those 2 defeats, The Hornets had been on a run of 4 straight wins and having collected 6 victories from 10 matches, losing just once since a 3-1 defeat at league leaders Coventry City all the way back on October 25th.

The reverse of this fixture saw the spoils shared in a 2-2 draw at Fratton Park on October 1st.

So, can the Blues build on their win at Hillsborough on Saturday and capitalise on Watford’s mini run of poor form of late?

Jake Smith, Kirsty Roxanne and Henry Deacon will be positioned in the press box at Vicarage Road on Wednesday (January 21st) evening, delivering full match coverage from 7pm on Express FM's Pompey Live.

Kick-off: 7:45pm!