The Blues will welcome Valerien Ismael’s side to Fratton Park eager to right the wrongs of back-to-back defeats suffered against Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End immediately before the international break.
The home side will also be keen to put a halt to a run of results that saw Pompey’s 10-point advantage over the relegation zone reduced to four over the course of two games. But Mousinho won’t know exactly what he has to work with until his remaining internationals complete their national service.
The Blues have already suffered one injury blow since waving goodbye to their globetrotters after defeat at Deepdale on March 15.
Australia international Kusini Yengi returned early from his link-up with the Socceroos after suffering a hamstring injury in training. The 25-year-old earned a recall to Tony Popovic’s side after just two substitute appearances following a three-month injury lay-off. The striker remained on the bench for his country’s World Cup qualifying win against Indonesia, but was not considered fit enough to feature against China (to be played Tuesday) and was allowed to head back to the UK for further assessment of the problem.
Fellow striker Mark O’Mahony appears to have come through the past 10 days unscathed after he featured twice for the Republic of Ireland’s under-21s in friendly fixtures against Scotland and Hungary in Spain.
But the Blues still have two more players yet to complete their games over the international break, with Terry Devlin and Isaac Hayden still on location with their respective countries.
Fresh from making his Northern Ireland debut against Switzerland on Friday night as a second-half substitute, Devlin is currently in Stockholm, Sweden, where Michael O’Neill’s wrap up their current round of fixtures tonight (6pm).
Meanwhile, Hayden remains with Steve McClaren’s Jamaica, who will play the second leg of their Gold Cup qualifier against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday in Kingston. The midfielder played the full 90 minutes as the two nations played out a 1-1 in St Vincent on Friday, with the on-loan Newcastle man picking up his third international cap.
With Hayden not expected to report back for duty at Fratton Park until Friday at the earliest, that rules out the loanee starting against Rovers. Yet Mousinho will still want both him and Devlin returning fit and healthy for Pompey crucial Championship run-on.
Pompey’s remaining Championship and injuries
The Blues still have eight games left to play as they look to secure their second-tier status for another season.
The game against Blackburn is followed by a trip to Millwall on Saturday, April 5, with an away trip to high-flying Coventry next on the agenda for Wednesday April 9.
A huge game against Derby County lies in wait on Saturday, April 12 – a fixture that could play a key role in both sides’ battle to avoid the drop – before the Easter period sees the Blues travel to Norwich on Friday, April 18, and host Watford on Bank Holiday Monday (April 21).
An away trip to Sheffield Wednesday follows that on Saturday, April 26, before Mousinho’s side round off the campaign with a home game against fellow strugglers Hull City on May 3.
Yengi’s latest injury took the number of Pompey players on the injury list to 10. However, of that 10, both Jordan Williams and Christian Saydee are expected to be fit for the game against Rovers. Conor Shaughnessy and Rob Atkinson are both expected to return to the fold in April.
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