October does seem early to talk about must-win games. There are, after all, 38 Championship games to go before we see the final league table.

But after Pompey's midweek trip to Stoke brought a disastrous 6-1 defeat - that on the back of a tough seven-game opening to the season which had yielded three points - Saturday's Fratton clash with old foes Oxford feels pretty close to one that John Mousinho have to be winning.

The urgency of their situation is perhaps intensified by the fact another dreaded international break follows - so if Pompey don't chalk up their first victory in this game, it will be October 19 at the earliest before they can open their win tally.

Oxford at home is one of those games fans will have looked at when the fixtures came out and thought 'good chance of Pompey win there'. But so was Stoke away and look how that turned out.

Mousinho has been talking to the club website about the challenge ahead of him, his staff and his squad. 'Our job is to get the right blend of honesty and positivity because we have to go into the weekend and win the game,' he told club media.

'You can’t do that if you’re at rock bottom, although we also have to wake up and realise that performances like that – individually and collectively – aren’t going to get us anywhere. Wednesday was the lowest I’ve been as head coach, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and have to make sure we’re right back on it.

'We need to put what happened at Stoke to bed and then look to attack the Oxford game on Saturday. One thing I know from my experience at the club is that the crowd are going to be right behind us and will obviously want to see a lot better.

'If we can start quickly and get on the front foot, then hopefully we can make it very difficult for our opponents. I went to watch them at Luton on Tuesday and they deserved to win the game. We’ll be facing a really good side.'

The injury list is pretty much the same as it was in midweek - with Jacob Farrell the only one of the main absentees seemingly in with any chance of facing the Us.

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