Portsmouth brought in both Rafferty and Swanson last season to strengthen their right-back options.
Rafferty began this season as first-choice right-back, featuring in the first five league games; however, a 56th-minute red card against Stevenage opened Swanson’s way to the starting line-up, and he managed to impress.
Now, after serving a two-match ban, the 29-year-old is back for selection and Mousinho has tough decisions on his hands to choose between Swanson and Rafferty, which the Portsmouth boss believes is good for the team.
Mousinho also stated that he has two very good players competing for the right-back position and believes that both of them are ready to do the job when asked to.
“It is basically one of those things”, Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.
“Zak came back in and he has done so well, all season to be honest, he was actually really, really good in pre-season, one of those really unlucky to miss out on the first couple of weeks and Raff, who came in having not had the full pre-season, ended up with two or three assists after the first couple of games.
“It is going to be tough, but that is what we want.
“We want those difficult decisions.
“We are going to take it game by game, based on form and on who we think fits the game, based on everything we know about both players in the past.
“But one thing I do know is that we have two right-backs, chomping at the bit, ready to come in and play and that is really, really positive.”
Portsmouth are set to take on Barnsley in their next game on Tuesday and it remains to be seen who starts between Swanson and Rafferty.
