Jim Smith has admitted that Portsmouth start as favourites in their FA Cup fourth round clash with Saints - thanks to Harry Redknapp.

Smith, who along with Kevin Bond left Portsmouth and later joined Redknapp at Saints, is relishing the match against the trio's former club.

Feelings among the fans are sure to run high but Smith believes that Portsmouth fans should be grateful to Redknapp because he thinks the side he left them means they will kick-off as favourites.

Smith said: "Harry's left them with good players and they are probably the favourites because of the work Harry did there."

With only eight teams left to be drawn at FA headquarters, Saints were first out of the hat as number 30 and were closely followed by number 29 Portsmouth and Smith confessed to thinking it was destined to happen.

He added: "I was sat watching the draw on television and you just knew from the start it was going to happen.

"When I saw the numbers were so close together I just knew what the draw was going to be.

"It will be a very closely contested game and very hard.

"It's probably one of the games of the round with all the history connected to it.

"It's an old clich, but we can't worry about it at the moment. We've got two vital league games in front of us and we've got to concentrate on them.

"But it is going to be one hell of a game."

Former Saints defender and now first team coach Bond is also looking forward to taking on Portsmouth so soon after leaving Fratton Park and is optimistic that his current side can triumph over their south coast rivals at St Mary's later this month and draw a line under the recent animosity.

He said: "The longer the draw went on it became a possibility.

"It's going to be all the talk down this part. It's going to be a very interesting game, attracting all the attention.

"We're at home so we'll have the majority of the support and hopefully if we can win the game it'll be all well that ends well."