Owls Vs Villa: Team news & preview
Sheffield Wednesday take on promotion chasing Aston Villa at Hillsborough on Saturday, looking to bounce back from their midweek defeat at Millwall.
The Owls fielded a starting line-up without a recognised striker on Tuesday and although Lucas Joao and Atdhe Nuhiu came on from the bench manager Jos Luhukay suggested that Joao may now be carrying an injury. Better news may come in the form of Jordan Rhodes who could feature having missed the last couple of games through illness.
The Owls injury list shows no sign of easing off anytime soon, Tom Lees is thought to have suffered a minor recent setback while Almen Abdi came through 90 minutes for the under 23’s on Friday.
Aston Villa come to Hillsborough with injury problems of their own. Striker Jonathan Kodjia might not feature again this season and Winger Albert Adomah and playmaker Jack Grealish are unlikely to be fit to face the Owls. Lewis Grabban is struggling with a groin injury but Robert Snodgrass is expected to return from illness.
Wednesday have won 1 and lost 2 of their 7 league matches since Jos Luhukay took over. They were very disappointing in the 2-1 defeat at Millwall last Tuesday but did impress in beating in-form Derby 2-0 at home the previous week.
Villa have only taken 1 point from their last 2 games having won 7 in a row prior to that. Wednesday produced one of their best performances of the season in winning 2-1 at Villa Park back in November and beat Villa 1-0 at Hillsborough on the opening day of last season though the Owls did lose at Villa Park later on in the last campaign.
A win for the visitors could move them to within touching distance of 2nd place in the Championship table while the Owls need the points to maintain a distance from the relegation zone, a gap which currently stands at 8 points.