Change for Portsmouth

Portsmouth made their first change in four matches as skipper Dejan Stefanovic made his full comeback after an ankle operation.

The Serbian replaced the injured Andy O’Brien at centre-back, only the second match missed by the former Newcastle defender this season.

Left-back Matt Taylor made his 100th Pompey appearance at the start of a three-match home run in eight days which will do much to make the south coast club’s Premiership future clearer.

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes, still chasing a Champions League place with his side, fielded an unchanged line-up to the one which drew at home to Wigan on Monday. That meant only a place on the bench again for last week’s late match-saver Shefki Kuqi.

Portsmouth: Kiely, Priske, Primus, Stefanovic, Taylor, O’Neil, Davis, Pedro Mendes, D’Alessandro, LuaLua, Mwaruwari. Subs: Ashdown, Karadas, Todorov, Hughes, Routledge.

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Nelsen, Khizanishvili, Gray, Bentley, Reid, Savage, Pedersen, Dickov, Bellamy. Subs: Enckelman, Emerton, Kuqi, Mokoena, Sinama Pongolle.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent)