Portsmouth Championship Odds: Mousinho looking to make more magic happen at Fratton Park

After 12 years away, Portsmouth make their Championship return this month after romping to last season's League 1 title. Led by 38-year-old head coach Jose Mousinho in his first full campaign at Fratton Park, Pompey secured promotion from the third tier at the seventh time of asking.

The south-coast club are now preparing for a first second-tier season since 2011/12, and you can view the 2024/25 Portsmouth Championship odds by checking out my preview and prediction piece below.

Last Season: 1st (League 1)

Top Scorer: Colby Bishop (21)

Transfers In: Elias Sorensen - Esbjerg fB (£300k), Jacob Farrell - Central Coast Mariners (undisclosed), Jordan Williams - Barnsley (free), Josh Murphy - Oxford United (free), Jordan Archer - Queens Park Rangers (free), Sam Silvera - Middlesbrough (loan)

Transfers Out: Jack Sparkes - Peterborough United (undisclosed), Joe Rafferty - Rotherham United (free), Sean Raggett - Rotherham United (free), Lee Evans - Blackpool (free), Matt Macey - Colchester United (free)

First Game: Leeds United (A)

Prediction: 18th

Championship Odds

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After enduring constant disappointment in their bid to get back to the second tier, everything finally clicked for Portsmouth last season as Mousinho masterminded their return to the Championship by winning League 1, doing so in style as they finished five points ahead of runners-up Derby County and 10 clear of third-placed Bolton Wanderers.

Fronted by 21-goal forward Colby Bishop and a spine featuring three League 1 Team of the Year players - goalkeeper Will Norris, centre-back Conor Shaughnessy and midfielder Marlon Pack - Pompey displayed remarkable consistency, particularly in 2024 as they lost just three times, and just once after January 13.

Three clubs - Peterborough United (89), Bolton (86), Barnsley (82) and Oxford United (79) - scored more goals than Portsmouth (78), who also shipped more strikes (41) than Derby (37) and Lincoln City (40), but they suffered just five defeats all season - at least four fewer than any other side - while only Derby could match their number of wins (28).

A couple of first-team regulars at the back - Joe Rafferty and Sean Raggett - have since departed for Rotherham, while 21-year-old Manchester City midfielder Alex Robertson, who starred on loan at Fratton Park in the first half of last season before injury struck, looks Cardiff City-bound, but the bulk of the squad that soared to League 1 success has remained.

After losing a few players on frees, Portsmouth have been active in the market themselves, bringing in Jordan Williams and Josh Murphy after the duo's contracts expired at Barnsley and Oxford United respectively. Williams appears a capable replacement for Raggett in the centre of defence while Murphy adds threat across the forward line after bagging a brace in the League 1 play-off final - which took his season tally to eight - to fire Oxford United to the Championship.

Football Odds

Meanwhile, Danish striker Elias Sorensen has recently joined after firing Esbjerg to the third-tier title in Denmark last season. Sorensen finished as the division’s leading scorer, with 24 goals from 30 appearances.

The 24-year-old will provide competition up top to the likes of Bishop and towering forward Kusuni Yengi, who struck nine times in League 1 last season.

Yengi lost the presence of fellow Aussie Robertson after the midfielder went back to his parent club over the summer, but two Australia internationals - Sam Silvera and Jacob Farrell - have since joined the south-coast club.

Silvera showed flashes of his talent for Middlesbrough last season, scoring four times in the Championship, but ultimately failed to hold down a regular starting spot. The 23-year-old will link up with former Central Coast Mariners teammate Farrell, who departed Gosford this summer with a treble in the bag.

Followers of the A-League Men's will know all about the abilities of the 21-year-old left-back, who scored twice and supplied three assists on the way to the Mariners' AFC Cup triumph earlier this year - the first time an Australian team has won the competition.

Pompey supporters should be encouraged by their transfer dealings this summer, and after seeing last season's promoted trio - Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday - all avoid relegation, they should be confident of doing so themselves this year.

Emulating the achievements of Kieran McKenna at Portman Road is fanciful stuff, but Mousinho should be aspiring to avoid the final-day drama that befell the Pilgrims and Owls.

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