Sheffield Wednesday lost 2-0 at Aston Villa on Saturday and with Fulham winning at Newcastle the Owls could find themselves out of the top 6 by the time they face 5th-placed Reading on Friday as the Londoners, currently 2 points behind Wednesday, play Blackburn in their game in hand in midweek.
It was a very frustrating Afternoon for Carlos Carvalhal at Villa Park. Wednesday were probably shading the first-half when the allowed their hosts to take a short corner and paid the ultimate price when Kodija headed in at the back post. Wallace missed the target with a good chance to level the scores soon after and the visitors will have been disappointed to go into the break behind.
Any hopes of a comeback in the 2nd half were dealt a huge blow within 3 minutes of the restart when Sasso failed to control a routine pass and dived in on the halfway line. The referee had no hesitation in brandishing the red card and Carlos Carvalhal was sent to the stands for leaving his technical area following the dismissal.
Wednesday contained Villa well with 10 men, created a couple of half-chances and had decent penalty appeal turned down when Hunt was pulled back but the home side killed the game off 12 minutes from time when Kodija, played onside by Hunt, latched onto a pass to round Westwood and tap home.
The Owls face Reading on Friday knowing that a victory will take them above the visitors in the table but they have injury worries over key creator Fernando Forestieri and a potential crisis at centre-back. Sasso will be suspended, Loovens limped off injured at Villa park and Lees and Hutchison have also been sidelined in the past few games.