At this point in the season, we’ve identified the winners, the losers, the surprises, the flops and the also-rans.

This year, Reading have emerged as the promoted team most likely to succeed in surviving. Last season, it appeared that Wigan Athletic were that team. After 10 games, they sat in second place, just behind Chelsea. They had proven their worth by holding some teams to draws, and making the JJB a tough place to play. However, over the course of the season, they slowly lost their shine and slipped to a tenth-place finish. Not bad by most measurements, but to fall eight places over the final two-thirds of the season isn’t a positive run of results.

At this point, Portsmouth are the surprise performers of the season. Consigned to relegation last year, Harry Redknapp managed to keep his team's heads above water, and earned a shot at glory this season. He’s certainly taking his chance, as the Premiership table suggests. What is the reason for this wonderful turnaround? It could be the manager, finally gelling with ownership and players. It could be some shrewd off-season transfers, and it could be that the lowered expectations for Portsmouth actually worked in their favour.

You see, Pompey are something of an anomaly. They have one of the smaller stadiums in the league and are probably located more remotely than any of the other Premiership clubs. However, their Fratton Park home has become a very noisy and boisterous place to play, leaving most clubs with a terrible taste in the back of their collective throats.

Portsmouth have come to truly own Fratton Park, and when a club can make their home park a tough place to play, positive results and positive league position usually follow. Look at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool. All of the so-called ‘big-four’ have made their home ground a place of much-enjoyed successes, and opposing clubs hate to play there. Portsmouth can surely add their name to the mix after this season's results.

What about Portsmouth’s recent transfer record? Some may say Harry simply took a gamble, but let’s look at the numbers and then reset. First of all, it was a major coup to pick up Sol Campbell, the giant who lost his way at Arsenal after years of service in the centre of defence. Campbell was the heart of two Championships, along with any England successes over the years.

At 32 years of age, he was an absolute steal. His defensive record over the years is proof that the man can perform, and even though he left his North London home, it was only a matter of time before the larger-than-life England man came good again.

Also contributing to defence is David James. Obviously falling out of favour with Manchester City was one of James’s less positive career turns, but his revival at Portsmouth has some people clanging on about an England recall. This is highly unlikely, but you can see merit in the claim that he deserves to throw back on the Three Lions kit.

James has probably been the best of the British contingent of goalkeepers in the Premiership this term, with Paul Robinson of Spurs a close second. Interesting to note that this partnership of Campbell and James was an oft-used one in England matches past. Proven success is what Redknapp was looking to build on, and he’s found it.

Then comes the enigmatic Nwankwo Kanu. The big Nigerian has had a second coming over the last few months. At one point, he was the leading scorer in the league, and still remains high on the list. When his transfer to West Brom occurred, most probably wrote the African off as being in the twilight of his career. But he’s another example of a player who performed very well for his former club and just needed a chance to shine again. At West Brom, he was ill-used and often benched. At Portsmouth, Redknapp has given the big Nigerian the role he desires. His nine goals and several assists are a testament to that.

Furthermore, Matt Taylor has been playing out of his skin in the first half of the season. He’s a shoe-in for goal of the season, and has scored two out-of-this-world goals in the same vein as John Arne Riise to cement his place in the Pompey starting XI and probably warrant a call-up to the England regiment.

These observations are the most obvious examples of how Portsmouth has become successful, but Harry has also transferred in other quality players, under the radar of larger clubs that can sabotage the deal, and slowly trained them into the South coast outfit.  He’s done it several times in the last year or so.

It would be lamentable to forget the contributions of one of the Premiership’s long-standing employees - Andy Cole. He’s not exactly prolific these days, but several well-timed goals for Portsmouth have given him license to appear more often on the pitch. Gary O’Neil is another player whose virtues deserve to be extolled. His playmaking ability can be highlighted by the fact that he leads the team in assists. Finally, Benjani Mwaruwari has contributed in goals and playmaking to ensure that Portsmouth stay above the mid-table rif-raff.

So who backs Pompey for Europe? I’m not sure if they’d perform well, as the perennial European bigwigs are those with larger squads, big payrolls and the ability to fork out mass quantities of Euros for new, exciting talent.

Maybe Portsmouth aren’t there yet, but they’ve got the potential to see an exciting finish line in May. Maybe they won’t be this season’s Wigan Athletic, but they should probably add a player or two just to ensure that they don’t wind up out of contention when the warm weather rolls in.

Can Portsmouth maintain their charge towards Europe? Sportingo would welcome your thoughts and comments.