The EFL Cup isn’t always the easiest competition to bet on with question marks hanging over what kind of teams we will actually see on the field. However, one thing that helps punters is when the games mean something a little more than normal, and that is certainly the case here. Premier League club Southampton travel to Portsmouth for their meeting on Tuesday night, a journey that isn’t too far, and the fact that this is the South Coast Derby is going to ensure that both teams take it far more seriously than they normally would take an EFL Cup game.

These two haven’t met since 2012, the fans have had to wait a while for them to meet again, and there will be a lot of expectation on this game from both sets of supporters. This should allow the game to operate in the same kind of way to any normal local derby, I expect Southampton to play a fairly strong team here to try and win the game for local bragging rights.

In terms of quality, Southampton have started fairly well in the Premier League, while Portsmouth are down in League One aiming for promotion once again this season.

Even if Southampton rest a few players, they have a deep enough squad to cope with anything that Portsmouth can throw at them. While their depth players may not quite bet good enough for the Premier League, they are certainly good enough when the opposition is a League One club.

Portsmouth vs Southampton Betting Tips

A different EFL Cup game to most that will be taking place this week, as there is something big at stake here for the fans off the field. I think this will lead these two teams to playing strong sides and we will see a good game between them, with both desperate to land the bragging rights.

When you compare the teams, the Premier League quality of Southampton shines through. While they may still choose to rest some of their players, they have a squad full of players who are slightly below Premier League quality, whereas even if Portsmouth play their best 11, this is only of top League One quality.

I’m backing a Southampton win here on Tuesday in the South Coast Derby.

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