Football: Portsmouth
After a brilliant season last time – Portsmouth finished in the top half of the Premier League for the first time and secured their second FA Cup – the feel-good factor surrounding Fratton Park looks set to continue this year.
Manager Harry 'Houdini' Redknapp can rest assured he won't have to perform the Great Escape, as his side have been transformed into a solid unit littered with flair players.
Niko Krancjar finally settled into the team last season and the Croatian playmaker will provide the new, potentially explosive strike partnership of Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch. If either fail to deliver, Nwankwo Kanu, the experienced Nigerian, can fill the role well.
The club still need some new faces though, as they battle on four fronts this year after qualifying for the Uefa Cup through their domestic cup win. Wingers Glenn Little and Ben Sahar have joined from Reading and Chelsea respectively and should act as able deputies to Krancjar and John Utaka.
The club have been outspoken in their chase of Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul, but time is running out for Redknapp as the France U-21 captain has held talks with Sunderland and Aston Villa are interested.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, the Chelsea midfielder, is another player on Pompey's radar and he is reported to be interested in hooking up with best friend Defoe. His move could be facilitated by Sully Muntari's impending transfer to Inter Milan. The Serie A club have bid £12.7m for the Ghanaian.
More pressing concerns are at left-back, where cover is needed for Hermann Hreidarsson. Celestine Babayaro, another with Stamford Bridge connections, has been linked while Reading's Nicky Shorey fits the bill. Redknapp is famed for his wheeling and dealing, so expect some movement in the coming weeks.
Pompey's stats
- Founded: 1898
- Home: Fratton Park
- Capacity: 20,688
- Chairman: Alexandre Gaydamak
- Manager: Harry Redknapp
- Honours: 2 League titles, 2 FA Cups
- Highest PL finish: 8th
Star player... Jermain Defoe
Defoe's move to Pompey was one of the final deals to go through in the January transfer window, and the diminutive forward has proved Harry Redknapp's patience correct with eight goals in 12 games to propel the south-coast club to their best ever Premier League finish in eighth place.
Signed from Tottenham – where he plundered a goal every 1.7 games – for £7.5m, the England striker should fire himself to the top of the scoring charts this season. Always lively around the penalty area, he has a fierce shot that belies his small stature.
Defoe always works well with a target-man beside him and will be eager to form a prolific partnership with new £11m signing Peter Crouch. The lanky striker should provide the perfect foil for the former Charlton and West Ham hitman and the sight of Defoe wheeling away in celebration may become one of the 2008/2009 season's most common sights.
He can be accused of being selfish in front of goal, but his tendency to find the back of the net more often than not answers even his harshest critics.