Owls must be ruthless to tame Wolves

Last updated : 25 November 2016 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday travel to face Wolves at Molineux on Saturday knowing that they need to improve in front of goal if they are to challenge for a top 6 spot. The Owls dominated the first half of their game at Fulham last weekend but only had 1 goal to show for their superiority and were made to pay when the host equalised in injury time.

The Owls will be without striker Gary Hooper who suffered a hamstring injury at Craven Cottage. Steven Fletcher will be expected to take his place if he is fully fit, the Scottish striker missed training in the early part of the week but returned on Thursday. Lucas Joao will be hoping to make the squad now that he is fully fit but midfielder Almen Abdi has been ill this week and only resume training on Friday. Full-back Daniel Pudil could come back into the squad having missed out last week when he returned from international duty with a slight knock.

Wolves have expectations were raised by a takeover and injection of finance into the team in the summer but so far they have not lived up to this and their indifferent start to the campaign recently cost Italian manager Walter Zenga his job. He has been replaced by Paul Lambert who will take charge of his first home game on Saturday with Wolves expecting their biggest crowd since Wednesday's last visit on the final day of last season.

The hosts will be without former Wednesday loan defender Danny Batth as he serves a suspension and fellow centre-back Mike Williamson remains a long-term injury absentee.

Wednesday beat Wolves 4-1 at Hillsborough last season but were beaten 2-1 in the return fixture back in May. The Owls have a pretty miserable record at Molineux and have lost on each of their last 5 visits.