Paul Hart, the Portsmouth caretaker manager, believes that a permanent replacement for Tony Adams must be appointed soon. “I just think that for the good of the club and the players, at some point – because there’s a lot of planning to be done – that a decision has to be made,” he said. “Not by me, I’m just concentrating on one game at a time.” However, he would have to make a decision if the job were offered to him. “That’s true, but if that happens then we’ll have to sit down and have a chat, a long chat, and see where that gets to,” he said.

Beating Chelsea at Fratton Park on Tuesday would constitute a strong application, but he refused to make a strong claim for consideration. “You can look at it both ways. Are you going to be judged on a game against a team like Chelsea, who can beat most people? Do you go up in people’s estimations? I’m not a dreamer, I’m a pragmatist. We’ve got a flippin’ hard job on tomorrow and we’ve got to make sure that we do our best, and I think that’s all we’re focusing on at the moment.

“I went to see them on Saturday. Wigan, to be fair, did very well and could have scored a couple before Chelsea got on the scoresheet. They’re playing that system that they had for three or four years under Mourinho and they look comfortable in that shape. We’ve got to be at our best out of possession to combat them. I think when we’re in possession we can cause them problems, but we must guard against being foolhardy, I would think.”

Portsmouth have yet to beat Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League, and when Harry Redknapp was manager, he was fatalistic about matches against the so-called “big four,” regarding any points taken from them as bonuses. Hart believes that his players cannot afford to take that approach. “I said to the players today that if they thought just because it’s Chelsea and we get beaten, we can move on to the next game, we can’t do that,” he said. “We’ve got to treat this game very seriously and try to get something from it. Because the games drift away very quickly if you adopt the attitude that: “Well, it’s Chelsea, so we’re expecting to get beat.” I’m not expecting to get beat, and I don’t think the players are.”

Wins at the weekend for Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers have increased the pressure from below Portsmouth in the table, but Hart prefers to regard Boro’s victory over Liverpool as an inspiration. “I think at this stage of the season, from here on in, I think teams like Manchester United and Chelsea will be guarding against it, while teams like Middlesbrough and ourselves and all those teams in the lower positions will be thinking that those results can happen. Tired legs, bumpy pitches, weather conditions change, this is always going to happen between now and the ends of the season.

“If we start looking over our shoulder every week we’ll end up in an early grave. We’ve got to try to take care of ourselves. I’m in no way being arrogant or complacent, but if we do the best that we can, I think we’re going to be very difficult to play against.”