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Perrin's Pompey will go same way as Saints .... Steve Davies
Portsmouth to be relegated, 4pts 9-4 (VC)
West Ham to be relegated, 2pts 4-6 (general)

THEY’VE had a great summer in Portsmouth. Celebrating 200 years of Naval supremacy and Admiral Nelson’s glorious defeat of the Spansh Armada at the Battle of Trafalgar probably took top honours, though the sinking of Southampton FC wasn’t far behind.
That was made all the sweeter by the fact that Harry Redknapp, erstwhile skipper of the good ship Pompey, was on the bridge at St Mary’s when Hampshire’s other club went down with all hands in May.
Now, though, and without wishing to go overboard on nautical analogies, it’sPortsmouth who look to be all at sea and could themselves be plotting a course for the Championship come the end of term.
The bookies have the three promoted teams odds-on shots across the board for an instant return, and history suggests a blanket puntof Sunderland, Wigan and West Ham could pay off. In five of the last 11 seasons at least two members of the promoted trio have gone straight back down.
Yet up until the last couple of weeks of last season, Saints, Fulham and Pompey were battling with Norwich, Crystal Palace and West Brom for the honour of staying in the top flight for another term.
Yes, the gulf between the top of the Championship and the top of the Premiership is huge, but it’s also clear the gap between the top of the second tier andthe bottom few of the elite brotherhood isn’t that massive. The Baggies just about bridged it and sent Soton down. Now it could be Portsmouth’s turn.
Certainly Monsieur Perrin has his work cut out having presided over the tail-end of a dismal 2004-05. Three wins since Christmas, inevitably all at home, left the south coast outfit eternally grateful that the four below them never quite got their acts together.
Perrin has immediately repopulated the club. Key players had left prior to his
arrival – crucially Amdy Faye and Nigel Quashie. Others had reached their sell-by dates – Steve Stone and Patrik Berger, for example. Two more, Yakubu and Ricardo Fuller, are costly summer departures.
It means Perrin fields a hatful of new players this term – GregoryVignal and Andy O’Brien in defence, John Viafara and Laurent Robert in midfield, Azar Karadas and Collins Mbesuma up front. Sander Westerveld will push Jamie Ashdown for the keeper’s jersey.
The addition of these exotic names has delighted chirman MilanMandaric and partially resolved the problem of expanding a threadbare squad.
Are these the players, though, who can grind out the big results in the umpteen six-pointers against the likes of West Brom, Wigan and other teams fighting for their lives?
Everton transformed themselves from relegation fodder to Champions League qualifiers by going for the blue-collar approach and it worked. Can Perrin expect a similar work ethic from Robert?
The jury hasn’t even begun sitting on Viafara, Mbesuma and Karadas, though the latter, a Norwegian striker, is certainly big and strong, though without Yakubu’s pace.
Midfield is a real area of weakness, while Liverpool cast-off Vignal and Balkan hothead Dejan Stefanovic can’t be trusted in a defence that was cut opentoo easily last term.
The ‘Fortress Fratton’ claim has become something of a myth – only three sides conceded more home goals last season – and the inevitable conclusion is that if their Fratton form doesn’t stand up Portsmouth may not stay up, because they are abject travellers.
Of the three promoted sides, West Ham look top value at 4-6 to go down. Previous play-off winners Crystal Palace were 4-9 at the start of term and there isn’t an awful lot to commend the Hammers.
Once old age catches up with Teddy Sheringham the Irons will become reliant on one or two promising youngsters, notably Mark Noble and Nigel Reo-Coker, and a
defence that let in 56 goals in the Championship.
Danny Gabbidon, James Collins and Roy Carroll have arrived with differing reputations to improve the rearguard, but they also look lightweight in attack.

from www.racingpost.co.uk