EDDIE Howe admits he has been encouraged by the “scramble for places” in his Cherries team and looks set to shuffle his pack for tonight’s League Cup clash with Portsmouth.

Howe’s selection for Cherries’ Championship opener against Charlton on Saturday saw club captain Tommy Elphick and star midfielder Eunan O’Kane named on the bench.

The pair, pivotal to the club’s promotion last season, were left out in favour of new signing Elliott Ward and Shaun MacDonald, Cherries’ most consistent performer during pre-season.

However, as Howe has hinted he could make changes against Pompey, Elphick and O’Kane could be in line for starts, as could Andrew Surman, Brett Pitman, Ian Harte, Ryan Fraser, Richard Hughes and Donal McDermott.

Howe, who said the Charlton starting line-up had been one of the hardest of his managerial career to select, told the Daily Echo: “When you have a good squad, every week is a tough team selection. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to have these options and I would certainly rather be in this position than the one I faced previously here when the team picked itself.

“I do believe we have a really strong squad, which is highlighted by the fact you are leaving very good players off the bench. But I wouldn’t read too much into one team selection. It is a long season and we are going to need everybody. We are going to rotate the squad at times and we are going to have to in order to keep everybody playing at their optimum. Everyone is going to play a big part.”

Howe also insists Cherries will be giving the League Cup their best shot, particularly as they could play fewer games this season due to entering the FA Cup at the third round stage and not being involved in the Football League Trophy.

The Cherries boss, who reached the last 16 of the League Cup with former club Burnley two years ago, added: “With the possibility of fewer games to prepare for, we can really try to have a go at this one and try to get as far as we can.

“Without the early rounds of the FA Cup and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, it does make your schedule slightly easier and means you can prioritise.

“We will rotate the squad and we have good strength in depth. We don’t think we would be weakening the team by the changes we make so are happy with the way we are going to go. It will give every player an opportunity early in the season to impress and show they have got a big part to play in the squad this season.”

Discussing the visit of Pompey, who suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat in their League Two opener against Oxford, Howe said: “It will be a difficult game, they proved that in pre-season and the last time they came here in League One in February. We are expecting a well-organised and tough team. Hopefully, we have got enough quality to go forward and progress.

“They won’t come here and make it easy for us. Their supporters always travel well and they will bring big numbers. They will have a team very motivated to try to succeed. We need to make sure that we are ruthless with our play in the attacking third and try to keep the ball when we have it.”

Asked about reaching the quarter-finals with Burnley, Howe said: “It was a good run and exciting to get to the latter stages of the competition. It broadens your experiences and makes you more determined to try to get to those positions again. The excitement as you get further in the competition only intensifies and it would be nice if we could get near that.”

Howe said he had a number of injury concerns ahead of the first round tie but declined to elaborate. Mohamed Coulibaly is expected to be a doubt after taking a knock to his ankle against Charlton, while Pompey old boy Matt Ritchie is also likely to again miss out.

“We do have a few worries from the game on Saturday,” said Howe. “The physical effort it took to win the game in extreme heat took its toll on a few players. I would probably prefer to keep them under my hat at the moment rather than talk about individuals but that will certainly come into my thinking when picking the team. I may need to protect a few players."

Johnny Ertl sits out for Pompey following his red card against Oxford.

Cherries: (from) Allsop, Francis, Ward, Cook, Daniels, Coulibaly, Arter, MacDonald, Pugh, Grabban, Thomas, Pitman, Fraser, Surman, Elphick, O’Kane, Harte, Hughes, McDermott, Flahavan.

Pompey: (from) Sullivan, Moutaouakil, Bradley, Devera, Butler, Wallace, Ferry, Barcham, Agyemang, Connolly, Smith, N'Gala, Padovani, East, Holmes, Bird, Craddock, Awford.

  • Cherries winger Ryan Fraser has been named in the Scotland under-21 squad for a friendly against England a week today.

The clash takes place at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane (7.30pm) and will be the first time the two countries have met at under-21 level since 1993.

Fraser will be hoping to be in contention when Scotland face Holland in a European Under-21 Championship qualifier in September.