Petri Pasanen has warned his Pompey teammates of the threat posed by his Finland teammate, Mikael Forssell, when Birmingham City arrive at Fratton Park today.

Finland international Pasanen may not start against Birmingham today if Harry Redknapp decides to stick with the 3-5-2 formation that played the second half at Charlton.

But the right-back knows that 18-goal Forssell will be a threat whatever formation Pompey play.

He said: "Mikkel's had a great season and is the biggest sports personality in Finland because, if you're a top striker in the Premier League, you're a big name.

"I played with him for the Finland youth team when I was 15 and have also played full internationals together.

"When he was younger, he was a bit of a freak in that he was addicted to training but even then he was scoring goals for fun and broke all sorts of records.

"He was amazing. It's terrific that he's done so well for Birmingham, who have had a great season.

"On the pitch we will not be friends - but hopefully I won't see too much of him at right back."

Like Pompey's Chelsea midfielder Alexei Smertin, Forssell has been loaned out from Stamford Bridge for the season.

Pasanen, who is on loan at Pompey from Ajax, added: "Birmingham want to keep him because he's the number one striker there.

"He would be a great signing but he would be keen to go back to Chelsea and become their top striker."

Eyal Berkovic reckons Pompey will beat the drop - by continuing to play pass and move.

Pompey showed no signs of abandoning their footballing principles at the Valley despite a desperate start that saw Shaun Bartlett, in only his second start since October, head Champions League hopefuls Charlton into a seventh-minute lead.

But Harry Redknapp's side were lacklustre until half time - when Berkovic replaced right back Pasanen. Pompey immediately switched from 4-4-2 to last season's successful 3-5-2 formation, with Berkovic deployed in the hole, where Paul Merson was so successful last season.

They were far more threatening with Steve Stone and Matthew Taylor providing the width as wing backs while Berkovic helped Amdy Faye and Alexei Smertin dominate midfield.

And, when Lomana Lua Lua, a 57th-minute substitute for Teddy Sheringham, joined Berkovic in playing off Yakubu, the transformation was almost complete.

Within eight minutes it was - Pompey were level. Berkovic fed Taylor, whose cross was met by Yakubu, bundling home his eighth Premiership goal of the season from six yards.

With confidence restored, Pompey did not look like a side struggling to stay up and ex-Saint Berkovic, a free transfer from relegation rivals Manchester City in January, believes he knows why.

"The difference between us and the other teams at the bottom is that we play good football," said the Israeli.

"All my life I've tried to play positive football. Harry Redknapp brought me here because he believes in playing that way and I believe that we will stay up because of it."

Redknapp agreed. "I've signed players who can play, they don't know any other way.

2It's how we've played all season - we'd be in real trouble if we tried anything different."

Lua Lua, who was expected to start against Birmingham today is a case in point and he nearly grabbed Pompey a late winner before Dean Kiely denied him from point blank range after the jinking run that is becoming the striker's trademark.

Immediately afterwards Paolo Di Canio thought he had denied his old boss a valuable point but was rightly flagged offside.

Like Berkovic, Di Canio started the game as a substitute but the pair of them brought back a few happy memories for Redknapp once they came on.

"I've been lucky enough to have managed two great footballers in my time in Eyal Berkovic and Paolo Di Canio, and at the end I reminded Paolo of a game they played together for me at West Ham when they terrorised Leeds. It was something I'll never forget," recalled Redknapp, who had named an unchanged side for the third successive game before kick off.

"I nearly started with Eyal. He's been unlucky to be out of the team.

"It's only because we've won both games since he pulled out of the Southampton match because of illness.

"His attitude has been first class since then and it was always a case of waiting for the opportunity to bring him back in.

"Once he got hold of the ball it was a different game. He pulled all the strings.

"He's got this terrible habit of passing to his own teammates, and the stats will probably show that he had more touches of the ball than anyone else, even though he only played half the game."

Meanwhile, Alan Curbishley believes that Pompey will stay up.

"Portsmouth have a great chance," said the Charlton boss, whose side could do Pompey a big favour when they play Leicester and Leeds in May.

"They've been playing with a lot of confidence throughout the campaign and their last three results have set them up nicely.

"They didn't look under any pressure today."