Portsmouth boss seeking further help to get to the bottom of talented ex-Arsenal youngster's injury mystery

It has been 48 days since the promising right-back lined up against Peterborough in a 2-1 defeat – and hasn’t featured since.

Having started Mousinho’s opening three matches, a ‘niggly’ groin problem has subsequently sidelined Swanson, with a trip to a specialist pencilled in for the end of this week.

It’s a blow to the talented youngster, who shone against Spurs and flourished in first-team football after being thrust into the limelight following injury to fellow right-back Joe Rafferty.

And regardless of the latest medical assessment, Pompey’s head coach expects the 22-year-old to be ruled out for another few weeks yet.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Zak has a really niggly groin injury which doesn’t seem to be going away.

‘He is due to visit a specialist at the back end of this week and we’ll try to get to the bottom of it, but it just doesn’t seem to be going.

‘We are not panicking at all about Zak’s situation. We have Joe playing really well, we know Di’Shon can cover there and we’ve still got Kieron Freeman as well.

‘Even if we didn't have one in the building, it wouldn’t be a case of putting pressure on Zak to come back and play too soon.

‘We’ve had a couple of injuries this year where players have dragged on and on and on after trying to come back too soon. We want to make sure that, by the time Zak does come back, he’s ready for full training.

‘He played my first three games. At Exeter and Fleetwood he was excellent, then Peterborough was probably different for everybody, our first loss and the back end of three games in a week.

‘It was also the first time Zak has managed to get through 90 minutes three times in a week. For a young lad coming through an Academy, that’s a big adjustment.

‘He wouldn’t have kept his place in the side if I didn’t think he was performing well at that point, regardless of who was or wasn't fit. He did really well and fully deserved to start all three – and maybe would have started a few more if he’d kept fit.

‘Zak’s a really good player and has done really well for Pompey so far – he’s also one for the future.’

Rafferty and Tom Lowery have this season both suffered setbacks after returning from injury, putting them out even longer.

That was under predecessor Danny Cowley – yet Mousinho is keen to learn from the mistakes of the past.

He added: ‘Rafferty is playing well but, regardless, we wouldn’t be pushing Zak too early,

‘Honestly, if we desperately needed a right-back and Zak wasn’t ready then we wouldn’t push him anyway, we would make sure we made it work.’