Smith plans to keep Coventry struggling

Revenge may well be on the agenda tonight for Jim Smith, Portsmouth's assistant manager, when the First Division leaders visit Coventry, the club who sacked him as their No 2 last season.

Smith has had a long and varied career in management and admits it is strange to see two of his former clubs – Derby and Coventry – struggling while Pompey are on the verge of the Premiership.

"It wasn't the happiest time I've spent in the game and really the circumstances were wrong," Smith said of his spell at Highfield Road. "In the end it's all worked out for me back at Pompey where I could not be happier. When I was shown the door at Fratton Park [where Smith was manager between 1991 and 1995] I went on to have some marvellous times at Derby."

The Portsmouth defender Matthew Taylor misses the game as he is to undergo a heel operation, while Linvoy Primus injured his pelvis against Wolves on Saturday. He has responded well to treatment and has an outside chance of being fit.

The midfielder Nigel Quashie completes a two-match ban for Coventry, while Andy Whing, plus the on-loan duo Gary Caldwell and Richie Partridge, are all fitness doubts and will have late tests.

The striker Jay Bothroyd is back in training after twisting an ankle, while the central defender Mo Konjic is expected to be sidelined for another fortnight. A plaster has now been fitted to his broken hand.

The Nottingham Forest manager, Paul Hart, is faced with a selection poser for the big East Midlands meeting with Derby after seeing his decision to play three strikers – Darren Huckerby, David Johnson and Marlon Harewood – backfire against Brighton.

Th striker Izale McLeod will undergo a late fitness test for Derby after limping out of Monday's reserve-team victory. Defender Pablo Mills, knocked unconscious during Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Bradford, should be fit alongside Lewis Hunt who hurt an ankle during a reserve appearance.

Giorgi Kinkladze's ongoing back problem has not prevented the midfielder training and he is expected to be in contention to start at Forest, but Adam Murray has been laid low by a chest infection and is expected to miss the game.

In the Second Division, the Swindon manager, Andy King, has signed Junior Lewis on loan from Leicester and he goes straight into the squad to face Bristol City.

Lee Peacock and Mark Robins are expected to be paired again up front in what could be an unchanged City team at the County Ground. The City manager, Danny Wilson, must again choose between Aaron Brown and the more experienced Brian Tinnion on the left of midfield.