Naylor confident in-form Portsmouth can topple Arsenal at ‘fortress’ Fratton

Portsmouth captain Tom Naylor believes his in-form side can beat anyone at fortress Fratton Park as they prepare to spring an FA Cup upset against Arsenal.Pompey will set aside their Sky Bet League One promotion push when Mikel Artetas Gunners visit the south coast for Mondays sold-out fifth-round tie.The clubs have not met for more than a decade, while Portsmouths last victory in the fixture came almost 62 years ago.Defensive midfielder Naylor insists his team are brimming with confidence and thinks a passionate capacity-crowd located close to the pitch can help unsettle the Premier League visitors.Everyone knows Fratton Park is a fortress, said the 28-year-old, who led Pompey to a 3-0 success over Rochdale on Friday evening the clubs 10th successive home win in all competitions.Week in, week out we play there and the atmospheres brilliant, its crazy, and it will be a different atmosphere for the Arsenal lads, and they wont expect the atmosphere.Its probably the best home crowd Ive had, and I can see why people come here and think they cant play in this environment because theyre not used to it.The crowds a massive factor and a big 12th man for us and weve seen that throughout the season.When youre in the Premier League, there are like 60,000 fans there all the time, and its quite enclosed Fratton is. Its on top of you and the crowd goes for it because its so close to the pitch.Whoever we play, we have the confidence of beating them, even if its Arsenal. The way we are playing at the minute, especially at home, we can beat anyone.Portsmouth two-time FA Cup winners, most recently in 2008 under Harry Redknapp are the lowest-ranked club remaining in the competition and the only one from outside the top two divisions.Kenny Jacketts men have won 21 of their last 27 fixtures in all competitions, including dispatching Harrogate, Altrincham, Fleetwood and Barnsley en route to the last 16.However, Pompeys last victory over Arsenal a 5-4 success at Fratton Park came back in March 1958.Naylor has been studying the Gunners from afar all season and feels there is little expectation on the hosts to snap a 21-game winless streak against their high-profile opponents.I think the pressures off us. Everyones going to expect Arsenal to win, so weve just got to play freely really and enjoy the occasion, he said.Over the last couple of years, theyve not really done anything in the league but the club speaks for itself. Theyve had some great players over the last 10 years and theyve got some unbelievable players now.Weve watched them all season on Match of the Day. We know what their attributes are, we know what their qualities are.Arsenal unexpectedly crashed out of the Europa League to Greek side Olympiacos on Thursday evening, with the FA Cup now their only opportunity of securing silverware in Artetas maiden campaign as manager.Former Mansfield, Derby and Burton man Naylor is looking forward to leading his team out for the televised tie and admits knocking out the north London club would rank high among his career highlights.I think it would be up there, yeah. Ive never been to the fifth round (before) and if we do beat them, into the quarters, its massive, he said.It would be a massive milestone for me and I am going to take it with both hands and try and get there.Its a real honour to be captain of this club. It will be nice to walk out at Fratton against Arsenal, its a massive honour.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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