John Mousinho is confident Pompey will be in the right frame of mind as they bid to recover from their latest Championship setbacks by gaining some reward from their trip to Hull.
The Blues' sole league win so far - at QPR - was a fortnight ago but already feels a distant memory with Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday having beaten them since.
Mousinho says the division will offer no respite and the team have to be ready to keep fighting for points - starting with a long trip to face a Hull side who have picked up since a slow start and who may feature former Fratton loanee Abu Kamara against Pompey this weekend.
The Pompey boss told the club media: 'I expect us to be firing on all cylinders and the mood in the camp hasn’t dropped – it’s still really positive. We know we need to win games and pick up points, but the response from the players has been great this week.
'The Championship isn’t going to let up, so now we need to dust ourselves down and be ready to go again. Hull play some really good football and we expect them to look to dominate possession and build from the back.
'They brought a new manager in and he’s given them an approach that’s really fun to watch, so it should be an interesting game. We’re in a run of a lot of away matches at the moment, but our form has actually been better on the road and we have to take that into Saturday.
'Having had a free week to build into facing Hull has been beneficial to us and we’re looking to go there and be right at it.'
Nicolas Schmid and Will Norris have both returned to full training but Jordan Williams, Zak Swanson, Conor Shaughnessy and Paddy Lane sre not yet fit, the manager said.