Portsmouth Match Preview

When Sam Allardyce took over from Avram Grant at West Ham United back in 2011, he was given one objective and that was to get the club back into the Premier League at the first attempt. That goal was achieved, albeit they went up via the play-offs.

That summer, the former Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers boss moved quickly to build a squad of players that had a wealth of top-flight experience.

Fourteen years on, current Head-Coach Nuno Espírito Santo has been given the same objective but he will hope he can do it next May without the need for three extra games.

After the inevitable exodus of players, it is fair to say that it’s not been the summer that the Stratford faithful were expecting after the realisation of relegation to the Sky Bet Championship had kicked in.

The Hammers have been tipped to end the season as champions. Having said that though, fellow relegated club Wolverhampton Wanderers must be in with a shout, given that they have strengthened significantly with names such as Kieran Trippier and Raúl Jiménez added to the ranks at Molineux.

Before the East Londoners start their challenge to return to the top-flight against Burnley in eight days’ time, they face fellow Championship outfit Portsmouth in Stratford for a Carabao Cup Southern Section first-round tie.

A day after the 3-0 victory over newly-promoted Leeds United, there was some doubt over whether Espírito Santo would still be in East London but, after detailed discussions with the hierarchy, it was agreed that the Portuguese would stay in the role which, given what has subsequently happened, has provided the only piece of good news as all concerned with the club prepare for the new campaign.

It seems that matters have been much easier down on the South Coast for John Mousinho though. He has made six summer signings to date as he looks for an improvement on last term’s eighteenth place finish.

West Ham’s official website states that there will be a record crowd in attendance for a Carabao Cup first-round tie and the majority will hope that their team can not only do better than they did last season when they lost 3-2 away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in a second-round tie when they were under the stewardship of former Head-Coach Graham Potter but, what they will also not want is for them to go the same way that Allardyce’s team went fourteen years ago when they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to then third tier club Aldershot Town at Upton Park.

Should the encounter end level after ninety minutes, a penalty shoot-out will then take place to decide who goes into Monday night’s draw for the next stage. Fans may also take note that no VAR will be in operation here, but goal-line technology will be used.

Espírito Santo may name a side that is a blend of youth and experience. It is however unknown whether Joël Veltman will be involved after the 34-year-old Dutchman only arrived on Thursday.

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest chief would have liked to have included youngster Keiber Lamadrid in the squad but unfortunately, the Venezuelan winger will be unavailable for the first few weeks of the campaign due to a knee injury sustained in their last pre-season friendly a week ago. On the plus side for the Portuguese though, he does have his captain available after Jarrod Bowen stated that he will remain with the club back on 17 July.

Tomáš Souček however, faces a lengthy period on the sidelines due to damaging his ankle ligament whilst on duty at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The match is a 3pm kick-off and live coverage will be screened by Sky Sports from 2:50pm. The referee is Adam Herczeg.