Portsmouth baffled over 'very, very strange' injury absence for ex-Arsenal youngster

Pompey are attempting to get to the bottom of a ‘very, very strange’ injury to Zak Swanson.

According to John Mousinho, the 23-year-old last week collected an ankle problem in training, ruling him out of Saturday’s encounter with Blackpool.

He remains sidelined for Tuesday night’s clash at Burton (7.45pm), with the Blues awaiting scan results they hope can identify the issue.

And Mousinho is hopeful of positive news as another Pompey player joins the lengthening injury list.

Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Zak is waiting for the scan results from an ankle injury, nothing major we hope.

‘It’s a very, very strange one. He trained fully on Wednesday and, by Friday, was feeling his ankle. There’s no swelling in it and that’s why we’ve sent him for a scan.

‘Hopefully there’s nothing untoward there and he can get back out quickly, but at the moment we are in the dark slightly on that.

‘He won’t be involved against Burton.’

Meanwhile, Gavin Whyte is once again absent at Burton through the ‘family issue’ which ruled him out of Saturday’s 4-0 loss.

The Northern Ireland international had been scheduled to start on the left wing against the Tangerines, yet was forced to pull out, with Josh Martin replacing him.

Pompey's head coach now hopes Whyte will be available for this weekend's trip to Northampton.

Mousinho added: ‘Gavin still isn’t going to be available through that family issue, unfortunately. We are keeping a close eye on that, the nature of it is he’s also out for Tuesday.

‘I would be disappointed if he wasn’t back for Saturday (Northampton). Not disappointed in him, just if we can’t sort things out and go from there.

‘It’s one of these where we respect his privacy at the minute and are trying to help as much as we can.’

Elsewhere, Joe Morrell is serving a two-match ban following his second red card of the season.