Having been relegated from the Premiership with West Ham back in 2003, Portsmouth goalkeeper David James is determined not to go through that harrowing experience again.
Pompey are currently just one place above the drop zone but the England international is convinced there is enough quality in the squad to haul themselves out of danger.
“I am looking at our side and we are in a decent position with regard not being in the bottom three. We have a game in hand on all the others, albeit at Manchester United – but we all know they can get beaten at home,” said the 38-year-old.
“I have been in this situation with West Ham, which was dire at Christmas and we nearly got out of it. This is a very different task now. We are trying to avoid dropping into the bottom three rather than trying to get out of it. Psychologically, that might be easier or it might make us complacent.”
Pompey host Everton this weekend before a string of crucial games against teams also in the relegation scrap – Hull, West Brom and Bolton, followed by matches against Newcastle and Blackburn.
James added: “We have six games coming up against sides in the bottom half of the table. Four of those games are against teams around us. One thing’s for sure, it will be interesting.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s clash with the Toffees, James’ opposite number Tim Howard says he is expecting a tough encounter against Portsmouth. The south-coast outfit pulled of an impressive 3-0 victory at Goodison Park back in August and the American said: “I think Fratton Park is always a difficult place to play.
“Every team in the Premier League finds it a tough place to go, but we’ve shown before that we can go down there and get results, so we’ll have to do that again.
“They have really good players and match-winners, so we’re going to do our best to keep them at bay.”
After a poor start to the season, Everton are now sixth in the table, 19 points ahead of Pompey, and Howard added: “The loss earlier in the season was a heck of a different time for us. We weren’t ourselves and it’s been a long time since.
“We’ve got back to basics and really feel now we are the team we wanted to be. Out fortunes have probably flip-flopped since that game, but it will be tough for us. We are going to go there with a renewed mindset.”
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