AFC Wimbledon v Portsmouth: early Blues team news as Danny Cowley prepares to make wholesale changes for Plough Lane trip

Haji Mnoga is currently on loan at non-league Bromley

The Pompey boss will use the Southern Group B game to rotate his squad and provide minutes to those players yet to get sufficient game time under their belt a month into the new season.

He will also call upon the services of Haji Mnoga, who remains available to the Blues in the EFL Trophy despite the defender completing a season-long loan move to non-league Bromley on transfer deadline day.

Cowley’s options for the Plough Lane fixture are reduced with Gavin Bazunu, Ronan Curtis, Joe Morrell and Miguel Azeez all away on international duty.

But with a first-team senior squad that totals 23, he still has choices available to him – and he’s keen to utilise his squad as best he can, despite not having a fixture for 10 days.

That means the likes of Alex Bass, Louis Thompson, Paul Downing, Michael Jacobs, Ellis Harrison, Gassan Ahadme and George Hirst are all likely to feature from the start.

Meanwhile, Mahlon Romeo could be handed his full debut after he completed a loan move from Millwall on the final day of the transfer window.

Cowley will also use the game against Wimbledon to blood some of the club’s youngsters, with Harry Jewitt-White likely to be involved after two appearances in the same competition last season,

Izzy Kaba will also be involved after making the bench for Pompey’s opening-day of the season win at Fleetwood – as will highly-rated goalkeeper goalkeeper Toby Steward, who will be among the substitutes.

One unnamed player will not be involved after testing positive for Covid-19.