Portsmouth’s Jamie O’Hara believes the south coast club (1/6 to be relegated) can avoid going down this season despite their recent problems.

It has been another traumatic week at Fratton Park with the players not paid on time again and the club being forced to sell defender Younnes Kaboul to Tottenham in order to finance their mounting debts.

Manager Avram Grant also looks set to struggle to fill the bench for Sunday’s match against Manchester City (2/7 to beat Pompey on the Premier League coupon) as his resources are stretched to the limit due to injuries and the Africa Cup of Nations.

The only bright spot for Pompey (11/4 to beat City with a plus one handicap) has been the partial lifting of their transfer embargo which has allowed them to re-sign O’Hara on loan for the rest of the season.

The midfielder spent the first half of the campaign at Fratton Park and has now returned to help the club in their fight against the drop.

“I would much rather come here, have a scrap and if we go down, at least I can hold my head up high and say I’ve done my bit for the club,” said O’Hara.

“But we’ve got a good squad and we’ve got to believe that we can get out of trouble.”

Portsmouth are likely to be up against it at Eastlands on Sunday with Roberto Mancini’s side (evens for a top four finish) keen to erase the heart break of losing the Carling Cup semi-final to Manchester United in midweek.