The rivalry between Southampton and Portsmouth is one that runs deep.

It is not just about football – this transcends football.

These are cities on the south coast with important ports, where the intensity of the rivalry is said to have intensified during the 1970s. That went to another level when, just a fortnight after leaving his role as Pompey boss in November 2004, Harry Redknapp went down the road to Saints.

Only Alan Ball had managed both clubs before that; no one has done since.

In 2015, when Emirates struck a sponsorship deal with Portsmouth landmark the Spinnaker Tower and announced plans to paint the towering landmark red and white – the colours of Southampton – more than 10,000 people signed a petition in opposition.

The voice of the local public was heard. Red and white was swiftly ditched for blue and gold, with paint donated to local charities.

Even so, since the turn of the millennium, there have been just 10 South Coast derbies.

On Sunday afternoon, that will become 11, when Saints host Pompey at St Mary’s, live on Sky Sports Football.

This has been a long time coming.

The tale of the tape

Sunday’s game is the 40th senior South Coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth in all competitions (33rd in the league).

It will be 4,908 days since the last South Coast derby in the league (13 years and 160 days) and only the seventh league meeting between the teams in the last 37 years since 1988.

Southampton are unbeaten in all three league meetings at St Mary’s (W2 D1).

Portsmouth’s last league win at Southampton was a 2-0 Division One victory at The Dell in January 1988.

Southampton have lost 13 of the last 16 league games at St Mary’s (W1 D2) and lost 17 of the last 22 league games (W2 D3).

Portsmouth have lost one of the last nine Championship games (W4 D4) – they had lost four of the five before that (W1).

Alex McCarthy is the only current player to play in a South Coast derby.

How did the last meeting go?

While it has been 13 years since the last league meeting, it has been just shy of six years since the last south coast derby, which took place in the third round of the Carabao Cup in September 2019.

That night has been described as the biggest football police operation in Hampshire.

Portsmouth were in League One, Southampton were in the Premier League – and there was to be no shock. Danny Ings scored two, and Cedric Soares and Nathan Redmond were also on target as Saints recorded their first win at Fratton Park since 1984.

“This is more than only reaching the next round. This is about reaching the hearts of the fans,” said Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.

“I have never had such an atmosphere in a stadium so far. If you see such a game here then you know why football is so popular in England.”

Contrasting fortunes limit derby meetings

Between January 7 1996 and December 2 2003, this fixture did not take place once. Yet when both clubs were in the Premier League across 2003/04 and 2004/05, they played one another five times; four in the league, one in the FA Cup. Southampton won four, Portsmouth won one.

Pompey stayed in the top flight until 2010, by which point Saints had slipped all the way to League One.

In 2011/12, they were both back in the Championship. In the first meeting at Fratton Park, Joel Ward’s 84th-minute header secured Pompey a point, before David Norris scored a 94th-minute equaliser in the return at St Mary’s.

But that year, Saints were promoted to the Premier League, where they would stay for the next 11 years. Pompey dropped to League Two in 2013 and it took four attempts to get out, before seven attempts to exit League One.

As John Mousinho guided Pompey to 16th last term – their highest finish since 2010/11 – Saints were having a nightmare campaign in the Premier League.

Under two permanent managers and two caretaker spells for Simon Rusk, they became the first team to be relegated with as many as seven games to play. By the end, they were 26 points from safety, with the second-lowest points total in the competition’s history.

How have they fared this season?

The appointment of Will Still as manager and the arrival of nine first-team signings generated excitement for Southampton’s return to the Championship. They were among the favourites for promotion before a ball had even been kicked.

Late goals from Ryan Manning and Jack Stephens earned a 2-1 win over Wrexham on the opening day, but Still’s side have taken just two points from the three games, against Ipswich, Stoke and Watford since. They sit 13th, with a goal difference of zero.

In the Carabao Cup, meanwhile, they have seen off Northampton and Norwich, without conceding a single goal, which secured a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in the third round on September 23.

Portsmouth exited the Carabao Cup in the first round, with defeat to Reading, but things are looking a lot more positive in the Championship.

They have beaten both Oxford and Preston by a 1-0 scoreline, held second-placed West Brom to a 1-1 draw and might have drawn against Norwich had Colby Bishop not missed a late penalty.

It took Pompey 10 games to surpass seven points last term, so to have done the same in six games fewer is more than encouraging.

Mousinho: I once thought Saints vs Pompey was ‘just’ a rivalry – now I know it’s so much more

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports:

“It’s the fixture everyone’s been talking about ever since I joined the football club and it has felt like a long way away for a significant period of time, with the fact we’ve been at a certain level and there has been that separation in terms of league positions.

“The anticipation has definitely been building with the club, with the fans and everybody connected to it. We realised pretty early on last season that, if we stayed in the Championship, it was going to be a fixture. That heightened in the summer when the fixture list came out.

“With the international break, the anticipation has built and built and built over the last two weeks and everybody is massively looking forward to the game.

“My assumption from the outside looking in before I came here would have been that it’s just a geographical rivalry – by the time you actually get involved with the football club, you realise it means a whole lot more to the supporters and there’s a lot more history to it, which is very interesting and something we need to be aware of because of the fact it does make it unique.

“One thing we don’t want to do is get too carried away with the magnitude of the game and build it up to be something it’s not, certainly in terms of the league and how many points it’s worth because it’s just worth three points to both sides.

“But at the same time, it would be naïve of us not to acknowledge the significance of the game and how huge it is to everybody connected with the city. We can definitely play on that.

“There’s nothing I need to say to the Portsmouth fans other than the fact we are very grateful for the backing. It’s going to be a raucous atmosphere, it’s definitely going to be intense and one to savour.”

‘This is a rivalry laced with venom’

David Prutton on the Sky Sports EFL podcast:

“This is one of the biggest fixtures we get the chance to cover in the EFL. If you have even a passing awareness of it, you know it is always a feisty affair. The two clubs absolutely hate each other, and that makes for a derby that is fiercely fought and often very hard and attritional.

“The way both teams have started the season makes it feel really well balanced. Will Still has so many fantastic players at his disposal, and John Mousinho has always built Portsmouth on a strong team ethic. Both managers and both squads deserve a lot of respect.

“Even though it is early in the season, it already feels finely poised. Later on it might end up being seen as a title decider or even a relegation six-pointer, but right now it is perfectly balanced for this stage of the campaign.

“Will gets his first taste of this rivalry. John knows what it means and what the fixture can throw up. It is set so nicely, even if I have just said that the clubs despise each other.

“From my own playing days, I remember when we beat Portsmouth at St Mary’s, which was a great feeling. I also remember being completely outplayed and beaten heavily at Fratton Park, which was not enjoyable. Those are my strongest memories of playing in this derby.

“It is definitely one of the fiercest games I ever played in. I think people underestimate how much the clubs dislike each other, because we have not seen it often in modern times. The atmosphere is amazing and incredibly intense.

“I say this not just as someone who once played for Southampton. Everyone talks about the biggest rivalries in England, and we all know what the famous ones are, but Southampton against Portsmouth is unique. Its location and historical significance make it stand out. When you factor in the political and socioeconomic reasons why the two cities clash, it becomes even more fascinating.

“It is a rivalry laced with venom, one of the most fiery you could hope for, and I think this match has all the ingredients to be a real spectacle.”

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