As revealed yesterday, Portsmouth are going into tonight’s Carling Cup tie with Chelsea carrying a raft of injuries – including a back injury for Defoe.

There is some good news from Fratton Park, with confirmation that Diarra has not suffered ligament damage. He will still miss out with a knee injury and there’s confirmation of Diop’s hamstring injury, Davis’ groin injury and now news of the Defoe back problem. Kanu is set to come in to replace him but judging by Redknapp’s comments, Defoe’s absence is more a case of handing him a rest.

“I’ll rest Jermain, he’s got a knock, so Kanu will play, he needs a game.”

Redknapp has also stressed that he is set to rest Campbell and Traore, while James and Belhadj could also be benched. Aside from Kanu – Mvuemba, Little, Pamarot and Hughes are set for starts. Harry has also indicated that he is likely to return to a 4-4-2 to accommodate the forced changes.

Clearly we need to watch for the Pompey lineup as with all these injuries, it’s likely to have a clear bearing on the team and tactics for the visit of Tottenham at the weekend.