Portsmouth rivals will be without key man for Fratton Park clash following eight-match ban

Preston North End’s Milutin Osmajić has been issued an eight-match ban by the FA after biting Blackburn Rovers’ Owen Beck during their Championship clash at Deepdale on September 22nd. The Lancashire Derby ended goalless but saw a red card for each side.

The incident with Osmajić followed Beck’s sending off for kicking out at Preston's Duane Holmes. Blackburn boss John Eustace has confirmed that the Liverpool loanee has ‘a big bite mark on the back of his neck’ and is ‘a little bit shook up’.

Osmajić has admitted the charge of violent conduct and has been fined £15,000 alongside his suspension. The Montenegro international will be unavailable for Preston until their their clash with Derby on November 23rd. The final match of his ban will see him miss Preston’s meeting with Portsmouth on November 9th.

Osmajić has scored five goals in 10 appearances across all competitions so far this season but he will miss the next eight for PNE. Starting with this weekend’s clash against Burnley, the forward will also be unavailable to compete against Coventry, Norwich, Plymouth Argyle, Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, Bristol City, Sunderland and finally Pompey at Fratton Park.

Preston North End director Peter Risdale told talkSPORT that Osmajić will also face an additional internal disciplinary process.

“We've already indicated to the player what we're doing,” he said. “I want to keep that obviously in-house but you can be assured that that's not something that we condone as a football club and we've taken appropriate action.”

The club have also added that they will make no further comment on the incident until the FA publishes written reasons for Osmajić’s suspension, which will be released ‘in due course’.

In 2013, Luis Suarez, who played for Liverpool at the time, was handed a 10-match ban for a similar infamous issue — biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier League fixture.