Ghana winger and FA CUP hero Quincy Owusu-Abeyie is poised to help fire Portsmouth to Wembley by staging a shock return. The on-loan winger hobbled out of last weekend's Burnley triumph in the 39th minute after injuring his groin.
It was feared the former Arsenal man would be out for several weeks as he missed Wednesday friendly against Bosnia. Yet, following a scan by the Blues' medical staff on Monday, his complaint is not as bad as first feared. And that has potentially put Owusu-Abeyie in the frame to feature against Birmingham on Saturday.
The 23-year-old was the inspiration for the stunning 4-1 demolition of Southampton in the previous round. And Paul Groves is hopeful he will be declared fit to line up against Alex McLeish's men. Pompey's first-team coach said: 'Quincy had a scan on Monday and there's not too much saying he is going to be out for a long period of time.
'He did a little bit of work on Tuesday and it will now be how he reacts to that work. 'Hopefully he'll come through without any real reaction. 'Then he can progress forward and join in with full training.
'If there is a reaction it may keep him out of this weekend's game. 'But there's certainly a possibility he could feature at this moment in time.'However, the match appears to have come too soon for Anthony Vanden Borre.
The Belgian right-back has missed the last four games with a hamstring problem. He returned to training on Tuesday, although Groves does not believe he will be ready for Birmingham.He added: 'Anthony joined in training for the first time on Tuesday, however, Saturday may be too early.'Mind you, Anthony is somebody who won't take too long until he is back up and running.'
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