Portsmouth are living up to their new theme tune, the Robbie Williams hit "Let Me Entertain You".

Harry Redknapp's table-toppers have enjoyed their best start to a season for 17 years and their First Division title odds have been slashed from 33-1 to 9-2.

Paul Merson is determined not to let standards slip as Pompey go for the win which would equal the club's best-ever opening to a campaign, achieved in 1948-49 when they went on to become champions of England.

The former Arsenal and Aston Villa maestro declared: "I don't want us to lose more than two games at home this season.

"That's why Saturday is so important. It's a local derby against a side that has lost their last three matches. The expectation is on us to win and it is all down to how we cope with it.

"Anyone can just jog along and win one week and lose the next, but I want to win every game here. That was the mentality we had at Arsenal.

"We cannot just go out against Brighton and expect things to happen. If we do that we risk getting beaten.

"We have set our standards now and everyone in the League is waiting for us to slip up but don't worry, I'll be making sure we will be in exactly the right frame of mind on Saturday.

"I'm not being cocky, but at the moment I can't see us losing a game."

The team that took Pompey to the top for the first time since April 1993 with a 1-0 win at Grimsby on Monday was assembled for transfer fees totalling £2.3 million.

That does not include record signing Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. The £1.8 million Japanse goalkeeper was on the bench and has not played since January.

Merson is the top earner on £10,000 a week and the average weekly wage of Monday's line-up is £5,500.

The Albion team beaten by Walsall on Monday cost just over £100,000 in transfer fees and many of the players earn less than £5,500 a month!

Nine of the Pompey side bankrolled by wealthy chairman Milan Mandaric are new signings, the exceptions being right wingback Jason Crowe and left-sided midfielder Nigel Quashie.

Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop and centre half Hayden Foxe came from Redknapp's old club West Ham. Ex-Wigan stopper Arjan de Zeeuw and Gianluca Festa, making his debut on loan from Middlesbrough, were alongside Foxe at the heart of the defence on Monday.

Highly-rated left wingback Matthew Taylor was a £400,000 buy from Luton, while right-sided midfielder Richard Hughes was snapped up for £100,000 from Bournemouth.

Merson plays just behind top scorer Deon Burton, back at Fratton Park on loan from Derby, and Svetoslav Todorov, signed from Celtic for £500,000.

Marc Burchill, another ex-Celtic ace, celebrated his comeback from an 11-month absence with cruciate knee ligament damage by coming on to score a late winner at Grimsby.