Portsmouth are sweating on their best player Josh Murphy’s fitness before facing Wrexham. Like Ben Sheaf, Josh Murphy’s season could be cut short due to injury.
Last night’s Ben Sheaf ligament injury has rocked Wrexham. The Reds looked a more reliable side in the middle of the park whenever Sheaf had a good day with passes and timely interceptions. Infact, one of the biggest secrets to Wrexham’s late-December surge in form was Sheaf starting every matchday and controlling the flow of the game.
Tonight will be one of those odd days for Wrexham where they will have to switch defence to attack without Sheaf. That said, Portsmouth’s recent form is also brilliant after a bunch of thumping 3-1 wins against Charlton Athletic and Millwall.
And upon hearing Ben Sheaf’s season ending news, the Pompeys will be licking their lips to deny Wrexham a home win. Perhaps, the visitors might go all-out in search of multiple goals in the first half. After all, they crushed Charlton and Millwall under their massive leads in the same manner.
Not all hope is lost for Wrexham, though. Portsmouth are also sweating on a season ending injury to their 2024/25 season’s best player who took the entire Championship by storm.
Portsmouth sweating on Josh Murphy’s injury
31-year-old right winger Josh Murphy was Portsmouth’s player of the season in the 2024/25 campaign. He bagged a whopping 14 Championship assists last time around and jointly led Tom Fellows at the top of the league’s assist charts.
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Thanks to those Murphy heroics, Portsmouth stayed in the second-tier despite looking relegation bound all year. For Wrexham fans, it’s enough to imagine how much the Pompeys will be sweating on his injury recovery date. Else, their current campaign might again turn in a relegation battle.
Regarding Murphy’s return date, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has assured that he will have no part to play against Wrexham. In his own words, The News Portsmouth quoted Mousinho saying: “We are waiting for Murph’s final consultation on Thursday, so we’ll see off the back of that. ‘Will he play again this season? I hope so, we’ll just find out Thursday.”
Josh Murphy’s absence is a boost for Wrexham
It’s always slightly easy to play a rival who are missing their best player on the evening. More so, when it’s a right winger ruled out from facing Wrexham. Honestly, the Reds have struggled countless times against any top right-sided attacker they have met in 2025/26 season.
QPR’s Harvey Vale was a thorn in the Wrexham defence across the 1-3 defeat and a 3-2 comeback win. He even popped up with a goal in the second meeting. Sheffield United’s Femi Seriki delivered 2 assists within the opening 15 minutes and had the Racecourse supporters holding their head in hands all night.
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Again, Wrexham turned things around with a 5-3 win but Seriki tormented the Reds on the right flank. Nottingham Forest’s right wingback Nicolo Savona threaded 2 second half assists to make the FA Cup tie difficult for Phil Parkinson’s men. If not for Arthur Okonkwo’s penalty saves, Wrexham won’t be setting up an FA Cup Chelsea tie all down to Savona’s masterclass.
A much recent February example is Millwall’s Femi Azeez. His swinging cross forced the own goal error from Max Cleworth and it was his assist again on Josh Coburn’s 2-0 goal that put the game to bed. Last season’s Championship assist king Josh Murphy’s absence is thus a massive positive from Wrexham’s point of view.
A better defending will still be required from the Reds, but the likelihood of not getting exposed on the right wing increases Wrexham’s winning chances. That’s what the home fans want, and let’s hope the team also keeps a valuable clean sheet tonight.
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