He's back: Positive Portsmouth injury news at last with long-term absentee pencilled in for QPR return
Kusini Yengi is in the frame for his first Pompey match in three-and-a-half months.
That’s the encouraging news from John Mousinho - on the same day leading scorer Callum Lang has devastatingly been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Yengi returned to training last week and, according to the Blues head coach, is now under consideration to feature against QPR on Saturday.
Regardless, the 26-year-old’s involvement would be on the bench, having not represented the Blues since he started against Preston on November 9.
Yengi subsequently suffered knee ligament damage while on international duty for Australia against Bahrain in a World Cup qualifier, during which he scored twice.
It represented yet another blow in an injury-hit season which has also seen him sidelined twice by groin issues, frustratingly restricting the Australian to just eight outings to date.
Now he’s back under consideration for first-team duty, ramping up striker options following Mark O’Mahony’s goal-scoring return at Oxford United.
The Brighton loanee netted his third goal of the campaign when he appeared as a second-half substitute in last weekend’s 2-0 success at the Kassam Stadium.
And with Yengi also potentially offering competition for QPR’s visit, Mousinho’s attacking options have greatly increased in recent weeks.
He told The News: ‘Kas is back in full training, so he’s available for the weekend (QPR).
‘Jordan (Williams) isn’t quite as close as Kas, he’s still a couple of weeks away. I think that’s on schedule, but he isn’t quite there yet.
‘There’s no new injuries apart from Callum (Lang) and Shocks (Shaughnessy). If we can get Shocks back for the last few games of the season, I think that would be great.’
As for Williams, he injured his hamstring at West Brom last month, having appeared as a second-half substitute.
Paddy Lane, Jacob Farrell and Ibane Bowat have previously been ruled out for the season through long-term injury.