Portsmouth make 10 changes yet still field strong side in Aston Villa clash at Fratton Park

The teams this evening meet at Fratton Park, with the Blues keen to claim their first win of the group stage following an opening 2-2 draw with Crawley.

The head coach has also used the fixture to rotate his side, handing match minutes to fringe players and those to have recently returned following injury.

As a result, Reeco Hackett, Denve Hume, Zak Swanson, Jay Mingi and Ryan Tunnicliffe all join Sean Raggett – the sole survivor from the 3-2 loss at Ipswich – in the starting XI.

Elsewhere, the out-of-favour Kieron Freeman is given his third outing since dislocating his ankle in February, while Michael Jacobs features following his recent return to availability.

And there’s a first start in five matches for Joe Pigott, who was ineligible to play against parent club Ipswich last Saturday.

Pompey’s bench includes Academy youngsters Adam Payce, Malachi Osei-Owusu, Harvey Laidlaw, Brian Quarm and Dan Murray.

Pompey: Oluwayemi, Swanson, Freeman, Raggett, Hume, Hackett, Mingi, Tunnicliffe, Jacobs, Curtis, Pigott.

Subs: Osei-Owusu, Payce, Laidlaw, Quarm, Morrell, Murray, Koroma.