Preview: Everton v Portsmouth February 29 2008
Portsmouth have Jermain Defoe, Nwankwo Kanu, Milan Baros and winger John Utaka all available for central attacking roles in Sunday's battle of European hopefuls at Everton.
Manager Harry Redknapp's concern is that new signing Defoe is ineligible next week for the FA Cup quarter final against Manchester United and may not want to put injury-prone Kanu at risk ahead of the tie in which he could be given a lone role up front.
Utaka, who can also play down the centre, has been on African Nations Cup duty and has not started a league game since January 1 and David Nugent is still out with a groin injury and looks set to join Ipswich on loan. Midfielder Pedro Mendes is still out after a minor foot operation.
Everton are likely to be without Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta for the clash.
Arteta has this week been in his homeland receiving treatment on a groin injury for the second time in a fortnight and, although manager David Moyes hopes he can play with an injection, it is still proving painful.
Fellow midfielder Lee Carsley is available as his suspension for accumulated bookings does not come into effect until Monday.
But a sickness bug, which has hit Stephen Pienaar and Joseph Yobo in recent weeks, has affected a number of players in training.
Squads:
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Neville, Lescott, Yobo, Jagielka, Baines, Valente, Carsley, Cahill, Osman, Fernandes, Pienaar, Arteta, Johnson, Yakubu, Vaughan, Anichebe, Wessels, Gosling.
Portsmouth: James; Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Diop, Diarra, Muntari, Kranjcar, Kanu, Defoe, Baros, Utaka, Lauren, Davis, Hughes, Aubey, Ashdown.