Pompey heading for meltdown

grant Portsmouth could be heading for Premier League meltdown in January ahead of the African Cup of Nations.

Pompey have picked up seven points in the last four games under Avram Grant, but the Premier League’s bottom club are set to lose four players to their national teams following the trip to West Ham on Boxing Day.

Ivory Coast international Aruna Dindane, Algerian duo Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda and Nigerian veteran Kanu could all be unavailable until early February.

The top-flight strugglers are also under a transfer embargo and Grant is facing the possibility of not being able to bolster his squad.

Grant said: “I’ll say it again – I don’t know why FIFA allow this. I don’t know why they have the African Cup of Nations in January.

“The players go two weeks before and need one or two weeks afterwards to recover.

“We pay a lot of money, especially the big teams, to players who are not with us for two months. I think FIFA need to think about this.”

To make matters worse for Pompey, who are three points adrift of safety, on-loan Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara could also be heading for the exit door.

The news has frustrated boss Grant, who faces an uphill battle to keep the south-coast club in touch with games against Arsenal, Fulham,
Birmingham, West Ham and Manchester City before the end of January – the end of the African tournament in Angola.

Pompey are currently 1.92 shots to be relegated – a price which will surely be a lot shorter come February.