Stone back in midfield for Portsmouth

Portsmouth, playing their last home match for five weeks, had Steve Stone back in midfield after injury to face Aston Villa.

Stone started alongside £1m (€1.45m) Greek signing Giannis Skopelitis on his first start since moving from Egaleo but there was no room for Andy Griffin and Lomana Lua Lua only made the bench after a four-match suspension.

Villa, looking for their first away win in seven matches, lost striker Carlton Cole to a hip injury sustained while playing for England Under-21s in midweek but gave a start to Eric Djemba-Djemba.

Portsmouth: Chalkias, Stone, Stefanovic, De Zeeuw, Taylor, Cisse, Skopelitis, Hughes, Berger, Yakubu, Kamara. Subs: Ashdown, Primus, Fuller, LuaLua, Mezague.

Aston Villa: Sorensen, De la Cruz, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Samuel, Solano, Hendrie, Djemba-Djemba, Barry, Angel, Luke Moore. Subs: Laursen, Hitzlsperger, Postma, Berson, Davis.

Referee: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire)