For the third time in the last four weeks the Owls find themselves in front of the Sky cameras for a televised Friday night game. Birmingham City are the visitors to Hillsborough in what should be Jordan Rhodes' home debut, and the fans will be hoping he can open his Wednesday goal scoring account after providing the assist for Ross Wallace in the away triumph at Wigan a week ago.
That much-maligned win was not one for the purists but there were a few positives to take from the performance, the most notable being three away points. The Owls can now look forward to ten home games from their remaining seventeen Championship fixtures, including three of the next four at Hillsborough, and boss Carlos Carvalhal believes this gives Wednesday the advantage over their playoff rivals in the vital run-in.
Birmingham come to town in middling-poor form; they currently sit in 12th position in the Championship having beaten 10-man Fulham by a solitary goal last time out. That win arrested a slump of ten games without a win for new gaffer Gianfranco Zola since his controversial replacement of Gary Rowett. He will be hoping for a better sequence of results for the Bluenoses now he's broken his duck.
Owls News...
Inspirational midfielder and skipper Sam Hutchinson returns from a two game suspension following his reckless sending off at Brighton three weeks ago, but Steven Fletcher serves the final match of his three game ban for violent conduct in the same fixture. New left back Morgan Fox could make his Hillsborough debut - along with Jordan Rhodes - shaving missed the win at Wigan with a minor tweak. Will Buckley is also back in contention after watching from the sideline with a shoulder injury suffered against Preston two months ago. Tom Lees remains a doubt having missed the last match, as is Gary Hooper, almost fit after a hamstring problem but who has picked a minor knock in a reserve game. Vincent Sasso will likely deputise for Lees with Fernando Forestieri the most probable forward to partner Rhodes up front. Almen Abdi's return to fitness puts pressure on Barry Bannan to up his game to the standard he displayed last season but the Scotsman is likely to retain his place alongside Hutchinson in the middle of the park. Ross Wallace is on a good goal scoring run as one of two wide midfielders but Callum McManaman will be itching to prove he can add a bit of much-needed dynamism to the Owls' play.
Carvalhal Comment...
'[the upcoming run of home games] is the opposite of what we have just had, when we looked to the fixtures and saw we had more away games than at home. With the problems we had in that moment it was important we put the boat - even with the storm - going on a good direction. Now I think the storm has gone, which is why I said the last game was the beginning of the rest of our season. We understand the Wigan game like this, it was very, very important to achieve the three points. Now, let's get the boat going more fast!'
'I know things will be different in the future. We have more options, we are more ready and we will fight a lot to the three points. We can do better and better towards the end of the season, I believe that and it's important that everybody believes. We all stay in the same boat and everybody in the same direction. We have a chance to do something good in the period but we must be in the same boat to achieve a good position.'
Birmingham News...
Birmingham will be without ex-Wednesday pair Michael Morrison who is recovering from a hernia op, and Jacques Maghoma who picked up a knee injury on international duty with DR Congo. Defender Ryan Shotton (groin) and forward Clayton Donaldson (ankle) also miss out. New loan signings Jerome Sinclair and Krystian Bielik are available; the former, a striker from Watford made his debut in the win against Fulham whilst Bielik , a Polish defender from Arsenal's youth team, is still awaiting his first outing in a Brum shirt.
Birmingham Comment...
Gianfranco Zola was relieved to get his first win as Birmingham boss against Fulham:
'The team played with everything today. There was a lot of passion and I'm so proud and delighted with their performance. I thought we looked dangerous going forward and had a good balance in defence. We had some moments in which they but us under pressure, but that's normal against a good team like Fulham. When you work hard and the results don't come you start doubting yourself, so it was very important to get the win. But this is just the beginning and we can only get better so we need to keep going.'
On Friday night's game against Wednesday:
“We are not paid to win one game, we are paid to win many of them and the one that we are playing on Sheffield Wednesday is one of them and very important. The win made a huge difference. Because the players worked for a result. If the work is done well and you don’t achieve it then you are always very edgy. Therefore, it was so important for all of us but we need to make sure we don’t relax and have the same focus and attention because Sheffield Wednesday on Friday are not going to do us any favours.�
Some stats v. Birmingham City...
Wednesday are unbeaten against Birmingham at Hillsborough in the last five games. Their last win on our patch came more than a decade ago, a 3-0 victory in December 2006, and those three goals are as many as they have scored in this fixture in the intervening years.
The Wednesday forward line enjoy playing against the Blues. Gary Hooper has scored three goals in his last three appearances against them for Wednesday, albeit all in the away fixture, Sam Winnall has scored against them three times this season alone, Fernando Forestieri scored a brace in the corresponding fixture last season and Jordan Rhodes picked up a goal in Middlesbrough's final home game of last term against tomorrow's opponents.
Last time out against Birmingham...
Wednesday played a Saturday evening fixture in September, again broadcast on Sky. The Owls thought they had the game won with Gary Hooper's 76th minute opening goal before a Clayton Donaldson's penalty evened things up and Lukas Jutkiewicz looped in a late header to break Wednesday's hearts.
In the corresponding fixture from last season, way back on Boxing Day 2015, Wednesday eased to a 3-0 win thanks to the aforementioned Foriesteri double either side of a low drive from Kieran Lee and the highlights of that win are here.....
Final thoughts...
Carlos Carvalhal is not wrong to highlight the Owls' raft of upcoming home fixtures, but he will have to prove that actually means something to a crowd that have witnessed some uninspiring - if not unsuccessful - displays at Hillsborough this season. There is no doubt that there is the talent and drive among the squad to sparkle on the pitch but those instances have been too few and too far between for many fans since the summer.
The manager says the season starts now; while there is no such thing as a bad win when you're chasing a playoff place, turning on the style now would be a real statement of intent going into the final stretch and would provide a huge lift to players and supporters alike. In theory this is a great fixture to kick that off, playing a team with a poor recent record against us, in poor form in general, and lacking some of their better players. We all love a win against Birmingham, so why not loosen the shackles just a little bit tomorrow night Carlos, and let's show this league what we can really do, eh?
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