After a stop-start few weeks in terms of fixtures, Pompey boss John Mousinho is relishing the other extreme - a hectic schedule.

Bristol City's visit to Fratton on Saturday is followed by Tuesday's home clash with Norwich and a trip to Derby next Friday night - then three more games before December is out, followed by a packed January.

It's in stark contrast to November, when a couple of postponements meant Pompey didn't play in between November 9 and 30.

Mousinho told the club website: 'We’ve got a really busy period coming up, including three games in seven days, but that’s exciting, especially with two of them at home. You always know it’s going up be hectic in the build-up to Christmas, so there’s plenty of excitement for everyone and we’ll just have to manage the load.'

The manager says there is room for improvement at both ends of the pitch, but he can see good signs from recent games.

'Scoring goals hasn’t really been a massive issue for us over the past few matches,' he said. 'We didn’t find the net at Plymouth – and that was disappointing – but probably created more chances than in the other matches.

'I think sometimes we’ve been too loose at the back to concede more opportunities than we would like and that was the difference between the first and second halves last weekend. It’s always good to have flashes of brilliance from players, though, and we’re definitely moving in the right direction.

'Now we just need to try to build on improving the entire team performance and not just one aspect of it.'

Mousinho said Bristol City's 4-0 win over Plymouth last week was 'really impressive' and felt they were unlucky not to win at Watford too.

The manager also revealed utility man Zak Swanson had been in full training and was available for selection again.

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