Ralph Hasenhuttl has announced that he will be playing his strongest team for the visit to Fratton Park to take on Pompey on Tuesday.
There will be no excuses on Tuesday night, Saints fans have been demanding that the game is taken seriously and Ralph has said recently that he is taking the cup competitions are a priority so it is no great surprise that the Austrian has made a statement of intent.
However he has added a word of caution, that injury can play a part in his selection, both obvious and not so obvious cases.
Speaking ahead of the game he said:
"I will pick the strongest XI that I can put on the pitch because we know about the importance of the game, he said.
"As you know, for example against Fulham, we did the same but that doesn’t mean that it’s the same squad that we played last Friday because we had a few players that we injured like Nathan Redmond for example and then you must look how he went out with cramps in his muscles on Friday evening.
"We will have a look if it makes sense or if it is too much risk to take him from the beginning. Maybe he [Redmond] is an option then from the bench. I take the best possible team but sure, we will not be taking risks to lose one player for a long time because in the last cup game we had three injured players.
"When my medical department says it is ok and you can take him, then I’ll do it but if not I don’t take the risk.”
One player who will be unavailable is winger Moussa Djenepo, who is continuing to recover from a muscle issue.
Hasenhüttl said: "It can take longer until he is back in the team, which is not really good for us that he could be longer out.
"It’s a very difficult injury because the tendon is a little bit hurt and it’s a big risk to take him on the pitch. He still has problems with his muscle and he cannot shoot.
"It also can be that the other muscles take the function and try to make this muscle more stable but in the moment I don’t have a really good message.”
Saints fans will be glad to here the manager is aware of just what this game means to both sets of supporters and more importantly Saints fans, hopefully that will keep him focused on team selection and of course he is fond of a mind game or two when discussing injuries so will be keeping Pompey guessing.
Saints have a big squad and the quality to beat Portsmouth even with a few players injured, the fans can accept that these players might not play, but they cannot accept fringe players put in to give them a game, this is a game that must be won.