Kenny Jackett explains reason behind Gareth Evans' surprise Portsmouth recall against Arsenal

The fans’ favourite was handed a surprise start in the Blues’ 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup on Monday night.

Evans hadn’t featured in the past four games – and was named on the bench only once during that period.

Yet he was brought back in from the cold against the Gunners, replacing Andy Cannon in the number-10 role.

Not only that, but Evans was given the responsibility of skippering Jackett’s troops for the fifth-round tie in Tom Naylor’s absence.

The former Fleetwood man had a decent opportunity to open the scoring, but nodded his 28th-minute header wide.

Evans was replaced by Cannon with 17 minutes remaining, with the pair now battling to feature from the outset for Saturday's trip to League One promotion rivals Peterborough.

And Jackett believes you can never write the 31-year-old off.

The Pompey boss said: ‘Gareth is never out of it. Even then for Andy Cannon, he lacked a bit of energy and lacked a bit of energy on Monday night.

‘He has got to really push his way in there, to be honest. I don’t know whether it’s match sharpness or whatever.

‘You can’t ever rule Gareth Evans out.

‘He did really well, he gives everything he’s got and maybe tried to get that header on target, but he does get chances when he plays.’

In total, Evans has scored 37 goals in 214 appearance for Pompey since arriving in 2015.

His Fratton Park contract expires in the summer of 2021.