Wednesday Vs Swansea: Team news & preview
Sheffield Wednesday take on Swansea City with a place in the F.A. Cup quarter finals up for grabs at Hillsborough on Saturday lunchtime. The match will be televised live on BT Sport and plenty of focus will be centred on the dugouts as former Owls manager Carlos Carvalhal returns to S6.
The Portuguese manager spent 2-and-a-half season in charge of the Owls, guiding them to successive play-off appearances before departing on Christmas Eve 2017 with the expected promotion push having failed to materialise this season. Carlos has spoken of his fondness for the Owls in the build up to the game and many fans will recognise his spell in charge as being the most successful at this level since relegation from the Premier League in 2000. However, recent reports have revealed how Carlos had already spoken to Swansea representatives in the 2 years prior to his departure and the fact that he was appointed as manager of the Welsh side within 2 days of parting company with Wednesday will leave a bitter taste in the mouth for many.
Jos Luhukay’s side will be without youngsters Jordan Thorniley, Sean Clare and Jack Stobbs. All 3 are cup-tied and the Owls remain without an endless list of injured 1st team players. Luhukay had confirmed that Cameron Dawson will replace Joe Wildsmith in goal for the cup tie while Ross Wallace could feature having sat out the midweek win over Derby County.
Swansea are without cup-tied pair Andy King and Andre Ayew while Leroy Fer, Renato Sanches and Wilfried Bony miss out due to injury. The likes of Kyle Bartley, Luciano Narsingh and Wayne Routledge are likely to feature as the Swans rotate their squad with their continued bid for Premier League survival in mind.
Wednesday picked up their first league win under Luhukay with a fine 2-0 win against in-form Derby on Tuesday. The Owls have only lost once under their new boss but have struggled for goals.
Swansea have been revived since the appointment of Carvalhal and have moved from rock bottom of the Premier League to out of the relegation zone. They have only lost once under his leadership – to Spurs – and have beaten the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal. Swansea needed a replay to get past Notts County in the last round but put 8 past the League Two side to progress.