Portsmouth v Man Utd Premier League Preview: New Boss Grant Takes Charge Against United

Portsmouth v Manchester United Premier League match preview:

Saturday 28th November 2009

Portsmouth, who are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, welcome new manager Avram Grant in time to face 2nd placed Manchester United in their Premier League match at Fratton Park on Saturday afternoon.

Pompey boss Paul Hart was relieved from his duties on Tuesday after a string of bad results, with just two wins and a draw from their 13 EPL matches so far this season, with former Chelsea and Israeli International manager Avram Grant taking over as Portsmouth manager.

The 54-year-old former director of football at Portsmouth accepted the job on Thursday and will work alongside first-team coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan on the training pitch on Friday to get the team ready for what could be one of their toughest challenges of the season.

Portsmouth will be without right-back Steve Finnan (groin), fellow defender Linvoy Primus (ankle), midfielder Papa Bouba Diop (hamstring) and striker John Utaka (thigh) for the match.

Meanwhile Portsmouth goalkeeper David James is still uncertain after suffering a groin strain during warm-up in Portsmouth’s last match, a 1-0 defeat to Stoke City last Sunday.

Striker Aruna Dindane and midfielder Richard Hughes will also face late-fitness tests.

Manchester United have injury concerns of their own and are still without centre-back Rio Ferdinand with a calf injury.

Meanwhile John O’Shea (thigh), Fabio (groin) and Owen Hargreaves (knee) are all also ruled-out of the match with longer-term injuries.

There will be late fitness tests for midfielder Park Ji-Sung (knee) and defender Jonny Evans (calf), while striker Dimitar Berbatov is expected to have shaken-off a knee injury to be available for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

Portsmouth (team to be chosen from): James, Kaboul, Mokoena, Mullins, Hughes, Kanu, Basinas, Belhadj, Vanden Borre, Piquionne, Ben-Haim, Yebda, Dindane, Webber, Brown, Wilson, Ashdown, O'Hara, Boateng, Williamson, Smith.

Manchester United (team to be chosen from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Foster, Rafael, Brown, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Park, Valencia, Obertan, Anderson, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani, Giggs, Macheda, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen.