Here is what a selection of the national media thought about Wigan's defeat on Saturday.
The Independent
Redknapp and Fratton Park faithful hail Mwaruwari
Mutter it quietly to yourselves for now, but Portsmouth for a possible European spot come the end of the season? Harry Redknapp's men may have spluttered to victory in this dismal contest against a poor Wigan Athletic side at Fratton Park, but in doing so maintained their rather impressive start to the season.
For Wigan, their manager Paul Jewell's strike pairing of Henri Camara and Emile Heskey looked ill at ease with each other. On 60 minutes the duo linked up well, but Heskey's lay-off saw his team-mate lash his shot over. The performance of the team was lacklustre.
The Guardian
Redknapp rewarded for keeping faith with Primus
Maybe, as with Harry Redknapp's extensive years in management, it is a question of experience. How else to explain Portsmouth's newly redoubtable defence, the only one in the Premiership, nay, the entire land, not to concede this season?
Fratton Park is in fantasyland at the moment, with Pompey standing north of Arsenal by eight points and Liverpool by six. For a heady two hours they were atop the Premiership pleasure dome. "We're going to win the league," chanted the fans after Benjani Mwaruwari's bolt from the blue shortly after the interval
The Sun
Portsmouth 1 Wigan 0
With four games played, Harry Redknapp's side are the only team in the league yet to concede a goal.
And Benjani's second-half winner fired them to the top of the table on Saturday afternoon — albeit only for a couple of hours until Manchester United beat Spurs.
Kirkland, on loan from Liverpool, said: “This is a really tough place to come but we felt we put up a good battle.
“But we didn't create that many chances. And if you don't score from the ones you do get, then you are always liable to get punished.”
The Times
Redknapp eyes a rich harvest
Wigan caused enough confusion in the home defence to suggest that Portsmouth's clean sheets will be dirtied soon. “As long as we do not get involved in a relegation battle then everyone is going to be happy,” James said. But with the size and calibre of Redknapp's troops, Portsmouth should achieve much more than the bare minimium and leave Redknapp's favourite phrase gathering dust.
Wigan came close to securing at least a point. “You expect to come to a place like this and be busy, but the lads in front of me were fantastic, and I didn't really have a lot to do, apart from one save at the end,” Chris Kirkland, the Wigan goalkeeper, said.
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