This Week's Opposition: West Ham United

A closer look at The Hammers, Portsmouth's first opponent of the 2026/27 season!

The 2026/27 campaign is here and we begin with Carabao Cup First Round action.

West Ham United are the opponents for Pompey, who visit the London Stadium for the first-ever time!

MANAGER

Portuguese manager Nuno Espírito Santo is in charge of The Hammers, taking to the helm succeeding Graham Potter last September.

The former Wolves, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest boss has won 11 out of 37 competitive matches in charge of West Ham so far.

ONE TO WATCH

Former New York City FC, Girona and Lazio winger Taty Castellanos will likely cause a threat to the Blues this weekend.

The Argentine, who is the club’s number 11, joined for an undisclosed fee on a 4-and-a-half year contract in January and has bagged 6 goals in 18 appearances since.

TOP SCORER

Seeing as this season has yet to begin, let’s take a look at last term’s top scorer, shall we?

29-year-old fan favourite Jarrod Bowen was the man who achieved this feat with 9 goals, whilst also claiming 11 assists

The club captain wears the number 20 shirt.

CURRENT FORM

Despite a 3-0 victory over Leeds United on the final day, West Ham were relegated from the Premier League in May and are back in the second tier after 14 seasons in the top flight.

They are down just 3 years after success on the European stage, winning the UEFA Conference League in 2023 after beating Fiorentina in Prague thanks to Bowen’s injury time winner.

There’ve only been 2 occasions where a team has been relegated with more than 38 points this century… Both of those sides were West Ham United, who went down on 42 points in 2003 and 39 this year.

Can the Blues finally get their first cup victory under John Mousinho and get the new domestic campaign off to a winning start?

Tune in to the first instalment of Pompey Live for the new season this Saturday (August 8th) afternoon from 2pm as Jake Smith, Graham Butterworth and Danny Thompson deliver full match coverage from the London Stadium.

Kick-off: 3pm!