View: 80% Conor Shaughnessy could hand Portsmouth injury boost v Blackburn
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho could receive a major boost for Saturday’s trip to Blackburn Rovers as Conor Shaughnessy nears a return to action.
The 28-year-old has not featured since mid-August with a calf injury and his proposed comeback against Sheffield United in September was postponed after he suffered a problem in the pre-match warm-up.
However, Mousinho warned that the defender will only return to the team if he is ready and that he is not prepared to rush the Irishman back into first-team duties, with an appearance at Ewood Park on 23 November not out of the question [The News].
Portsmouth need Conor Shaughnessy back
A near ever-present in their League One winning team last season, Shaughnessy has made just two appearances in the Championship this season.
His absence has shown badly, Pompey sit 23rd in the Championship although they are only three points from safety.
Mousinho’s team ranks bottom in the Championship for goals conceded per match with 1.9, second bottom for clean sheets with just two and fourth for xG conceded with 24.4 [Fotmob].
Last season, Shaughnessy won 68 per cent of his aerial duels and 64.7 per cent of his ground duels and made 4.84 ball recoveries per 90 minutes.
He was also a threat in attack, taking 0.69 shots per 90 minutes, scoring four goals in 45 matches and having 1.42 touches in the opposition box per match.
Although it is a small sample size of just two games, Shaughnessy has won 77.8 per cent of his aerial duels and 53.3 per cent of ground duels so far in the Championship.
Mousinho will hope to have Shaughnessy back sooner rather than later as he could be the difference between survival and relegation back to League One.
In other Portsmouth news, David Norris has claimed that he would be surprised if John Mousinho lost his job.
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