Former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Carlton Palmer has taken aim at Portsmouth fans over their previous response to his backing of his old club for the League One title.

It has been an excellent campaign for Wednesday in League One this season, with the Owls currently sitting top of the League One table, five points clear of the play-off places, with two games in hand.

By contrast, it has been another frustrating campaign in the third-tier for Portsmouth, who recently brought in John Mousinho to replace Danny Cowley as manager.

Mousinho saw his side beaten 3-1 by play-off chasing Barnsley on Tuesday night, a result that leaves Pompey tenth in the League One table, ten points adrift of the play-offs, and 23 behind Wednesday.

As a result, Palmer was keen to remind Portsmouth supporters of their response to his early season prediction of a title win for Wednesday, following Pompey's defeat to Oakwell.

Taking to Twitter in the wake of Tuesday night's results, Palmer wrote: "All you Portsmouth fans who gave me a load of stick at the start of the season for saying the owls would win the league and I was underestimating Portsmouth you seem to have gone quiet."

With one fan suggesting that he should have waited to post that message until after Wednesday and Portsmouth face each other on Wednesday, the ex-England international responded by saying: "What ever happens Saturday we will win the league and finish ahead of Portsmouth".

The Verdict

You can't blame Palmer for being so confident about Sheffield Wednesday's chances of the title.

With the Owls now unbeaten in their last 21 league games, it is becoming hard to see where they are going to slip up enough to cost them promotion back to the Championship.

Indeed, with Mousinho's side now 23 points behind Wednesday with just 12 games for them to play, it is going to be a huge ask for them to overhaul that deficit as well.

Even so, it could well be argued that Palmer has just given Pompey an extra source of motivation for that game between the two sides at the weekend with these comments.