Premiership side Portsmouth arrive at Huish Park tomorrow, having gone on a spending spree in the last few days. Manager Harry Redknapp has spent an estimated £20million on midfielder Sulley Muntari and his new strike pairing of David Nugent and John Utaka this summer. There has even been the recruitment of a certain Martin Cranie for an undisclosed fee from Southampton. That has been added to by free agent defenders Sylvain Distin and Hermann Hreidarsson, plus on loan midfielder Arnold Mvuemba as Pompey look to improve on last year's ninth-placed finish.
Redknapp believes that the spending spree is the result of more money being available to the 'lesser' Premiership sides that will result in a more competitive season. Speaking to their official site he explained:
"I'm delighted with the players we've been able to bring in - we've had great support from the owner. You only have to look around the place to see how ambitious he is. The Premier League this year will be the toughest so far. There is a lot more money being put into all of the clubs. Everybody is looking to push on and get stronger - including us. We've brought in people early this summer and they're going to make us even stronger this year."
Portsmouth follow up their match at Huish Park with trips to Havant and Waterlooville and Eastleigh in mid-week before heading out to Hong Kong to compete in the Barclays Premier League Asia Trophy. With the first team squad at a training camp in Devon, it seems likely that Redknapp will blood the majority of his players throughout the 90 minutes, albeit with Pompey tending to in the past swap round the majority of their large squad over the half time period.
Kick-off for the match is at 3.00pm and tickets are available from the Huish Park Ticket Office right up until kick-off, priced: adults £10.00, senior/students £5.00, juniors £1.00.
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13 July 2007 : 
