Pompey Preview: JFK

With our midfield cripplingly light, Joe Kinnear has promised to go on the offensive against Tony Adams` Pompey side at the weekend as we seek to get an early Christmas present on the South coast. Kinnear said:

"Whatever team we take to Pompey, we will be up for the fight. That`s what we all want, and everybody is pulling in the same direction. We are getting harder to beat, and I will demand the very best from everybody who plays once again when we go to Portsmouth.

Things have been going very well despite the injuries. We`ve had no Nicky Butt and no Danny Guthrie, and I have been forced to play people out of position in the middle. On Saturday we ended the game with Cacapa and Jonas in the middle they were just filling in positions they don`t normally play in.

Guthrie hasn`t trained for the last two days, and then you have Nicky Butt and Damien Duff we will see by Friday if they can play at Pompey. None of them have trained yet this week. Throw in the fact that Joey Barton is going to be out for six to eight weeks and you have almost a first-choice midfield all out.

We just have to keep our fingers crossed. At the moment we have been completely rocked as far as midfielders are concerned. We could go more offensive, but even in the striker department we only have Oba and Michael in attack who are totally fit. Mark Viduka has only played two 20-minute shifts and is not yet at his sharpest."

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