Alan Pardew is treating Saturday's game the same as any other and feels that Saints are in with a shout of progressing.

The manager will experience a south coast derby for the first time this weekend, but the importance of the occasion is not lost on the Londoner, who has been involved in similar matches across the capital.

"We feel that we have a chance of winning and I want to create a team that wins," he explained. "We've been held up in the league with draws which has lost us some ground, but ultimately this team has been winning more than its losing and that's a good mentality to have. We've only lost two of out last twenty or something like that, so we're in a strong position and we want to take that forward.

"I can't imagine what it will be like on Saturday. Lawrie Mac rang me to tell me to get ready for it and that he won all of these just to put added pressure on me!

"I know from the stewards, supporters that I bump into before and after the game that this is a very, very big local intense derby and I'm looking forward to it. I had a couple of them at West Ham against Tottenham and Millwall, they tell me that this is a different type of game, but the intensity on the pitch won't be any different.

"The fact that we're at home definitely evens it up there's no doubt about that. They have international players almost everywhere you look.

"We have grown as a team and as a squad. We're a good team, so our teamwork and our organisation must show against the individual flair that Portsmouth have."

Pardew hopes to recreate the scenes from midweek, but feels that some dynamics of the game will suit the visitors.

"We're really looking forward to it, we know how much it means to our fans and supporters, so we're going to try and give them another special day like we did in the week.

"We're in a good place. Getting to the final the other night was something that we had pencilled in as being achievable for us. This game is something that we didn't have pencilled in but we've played four or five games to get here so we've had a good run to get to this stage, but we face a Portsmouth team who are a Premiership side, so it's a tough call for us.

"The one thing you see with these type of FA Cup games is that the pitch is usually poor and the big side slips up, but it isn't going to be that type of game, our pitch is perfect and we play a brand of football that will give Portsmouth a chance, so there'll be no excuses for Portsmouth in some respects, it's a perfect platform for them and they should win.

"I like any cup competition and I like league competition as well," he concluded. "I don't see too much difference in the build up to this game other than the media coverage, because our preparation will be the same but it is being very closely monitored by the media because of the stage that we're at and also the opposition. They're our local rivals, we're so pleased that they're still here with us, we've been in that position so we're not going to be smug about that at all, this is a football match and we're looking forward to taking on a Premiership side at home."