Portsmouth v Blackburn: winless Valerien Ismael handed huge boost ahead of trip to Fratton Park

The Ewood Park outfit travel to Fratton Park for the first time since 2018 with boss Valerien Ismael’s options bolstered by the return of three Rovers regulars.

Defensive duo Danny Batth and Owen Beck are in contention for the game against the Blues. Both missed a good chunk of the season because of their respective hamstring injuries and are yet to feature under the new Blackburn boss, who replaced John Eustace at the end of February.

Meanwhile, forward Ryan Hedges, who has sat out the past three games with a muscle injury, is also available for the trip to PO4.

The Blues’ opponents also have Harry Pickering back following a knee injury that kep him out for four months. However, the defender is not considered ready to resume Championship action just yet and will sit out this weekend’s game alongside Scott Wharton (knee), Augustus Kargbo (hamstring), Harry Leonard (leg), Emmanuel Dennis (hamstring), Andreas Weimann (knee) and Callum Brittain (calf).

Blackburn boss welcomes selection headache ahead of Pompey game

‘We’ve got four players back from injuries,’ Ismael told the Blackburn Rovers website.

‘Danny Batth, Owen Beck, Ryan Hedges and Harry Pickering are back, and that brings us experience, energy and intensity. It gives me more options now and more flexibility if you need to make changes.

‘They’ve trained well, they’ve each completed the full programmes that we set them during their rehabilitation.

‘It’s a good thing to have that kind of headache than the other one when you’re missing players.

‘Every game we’d lost players and it feels a lot more stable, so fingers crossed we can have that availability between now and the rest of the season.

‘Picks (Pickering) will play with the under-21s on Saturday. He just needs a game in his legs to make sure we are on the right path with him after four months out. He’s trained well over the last two weeks and has made a good impact in the training sessions with his high numbers.

‘He looks really solid and robust, so it will be good for him to have that game.’

Valerien Ismael awaits maiden Blackburn Rovers win

The return of Batth, Beck and Hedges will no doubt deliver Ismael a welcome lift, with the former West Brom boss still waiting for his first win as Rovers boss.

The 49-year-old has lost three and drawn one of his four games in charge to date - a run of results that have contributed to Blackburn’s slide down the Championship table. Before Eustace’s surprise departure for relegation-threatened Derby County, the Lancashire side were sitting fifth in the standings. Now they occupy ninth place and are five points off the race for the play-offs.

That has already put Ismael under early pressure at Ewood Park. But with a coalition of supporters’ groups asking for three ‘divisive’ senior club officials not to attend Rovers’ eight remaining games this season as they look to create a ‘positive environment’ around the first team, the manager appears to retain the backing of fans ahead of the game against Pompey.

As for the Blues, they’ll hopefully return from the international break determined to put back-to-back defeats to Plymouth and Preston North End firmly behind them and keep a place in the Championship relegation zone at bay. They sit four points above the bottom three in 17th position. Just three weeks ago, following victory against Leeds on March 9, Pompey enjoyed a 10-point cushion on those deep in relegation trouble.

Like Blackburn, the Blues have injuries to contend with. Kusini Yengi joined Conor Shaughnessy, Rob Atkinson, Hayden Matthews, Jaco Farrell, Ibane Bowatt, Callum Lang and Paddy Lane on the injured list.

However, on a positive note, both Jordan Williams and Christian Saydee are fit to be in contention for the visit of Rovers.

For your next Pompey read: Portsmouth v Blackburn Rovers: Jordan Cross' predicted line-up with new faces and big calls to make