Pompey’s sidelined midfield trio are less than a fortnight from a return to training.
But John Mousinho will err on the side of caution when it comes to throwing the returning options into the heart of the Blues’ promotion bid.
Tom Lowery (hamstring), Tino Anjorin (hamstring) and Ben Stephenson (knee) are all earmarked for a comeback after the trip to Peterborough on March 16.
Anjorin has been out with a serious hamstring injury picked up at Chesterfield in the FA Cup at the start of November.
Meanwhile, Stephenson suffered knee ligament damage in January, with Lowery forced off against Cambridge last month.
Mousinho said: ‘Tom Lowery and Ben Stephenson we’ll hope to have back out on the grass post-Peterborough.
‘We’ll also hope to have Tino back with us post-Peterborough as well.
‘He’ll train with Chelsea next week and if he ticks all the boxes we’ll have the three of those back.
‘If you look at the three of them, you have Tino coming off the back of a significant injury, so we’ll take it slowly with him.
‘Ben is coming off the back of a significant injury, it’s not quite as bad as Tino’s but we’ll take it slow with him – it’s been a long rehab.
‘And Tom is coming off the back of not such a significant injury but an injury history, so we need to look after him.
‘So we’ll looking after all three of them, not take too much time with them but not rush them back. After Tom got injured, that why we looked at bringing Lee (Evans) in.’
The news is positive over Zak Swanson, who has returned to full training this week after groin surgery, with his last appearance coming in December.
That means the former Arsenal right-back will be in contention for the trip to Blackpool on Saturday.
