Stevenage v Pompey injury news as eight ruled out

Portsmouth and Stevenage will both be without key personnel when they two meet in the EFLLeague One at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday.

Both sides have been hit with long-term injuries, and for Pompey they had leading scorer Kusini Yengi join the treatment room. He was fallen on in a training session last Thursday, and has been left with ankle ligament damage and will be out for two months.

It was worried he had fractured his ankle which would have ruled him out for 16 weeks, but fortunately he should return either in late October or November. He had scored two goals in two league games, and also got a brace against Forest Green Rovers in the Carabao Cup.

John Mousinho also revealed earlier this week that Tom Lowery could return sooner than expected. He was expected to be sidelined for five months after damaging his knee against Bristol Rovers.

Lowery underwent surgery last Thursday, and he could now be back before Christmas, having had some of his meniscus shaved off, rather than repairing it which will reduce his absence time.

Meanwhile, Josh Dockerill published an injury update on Thursday morning, having revealed he underwent surgery and was now on the road to recovery. The 18-year-old suffered an ACL injury against Gosport in July, and has been ruled out for the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign.

As for Stevenage, they have several players ruled out, and are not expected to ring the changes given the raft on injuries that they have been dealt.

Nathan Thompson hs been ruled out through suspension after picking up two yellow cards against Reading that will see him suspended for this match. Terence Vanooten, Luther James-Wildin, Dan Sweeney, Harry Anderson and Kane Smith are now all sidelined, leaving the Boro boss without much to choose from.

‘We know what we’re going to do now,’ said Evans to The Comet. We have probably nine or 10 of the players on the team sheet, already picked.

“We’re ready. We have limited availability of players but nothing is long term anymore. They are all very close now.

“In a couple of weeks we should have something like four or five new players [to choose from] which is what we need.