Owls Vs Latics: Team news & preview
Sheffield Wednesday face Wigan Athletic in the Championship at Hillsborough on Saturday in their final league game before Steve Bruce arrives to take full control of the team.
Keiren Westwood and Sam Hutchinson are expected to return to the side having missed the midweek cup win at Luton due to minor knocks while top scorer Lucas Joao could return to the squad having recovered from an injury that has kept him out of action since Boxing Day. Midfielder Joey Pelupessy could miss out due to an ankle injury and forward Fernando Forestieri is close to a return from a hamstring injury but is unlikely to be risked this weekend.
Wigan's influential playmaker Nick Powell has returned to training following a claf injury but is unlikely to feature while midfielder Darron Gibson has missed the last two matches due to a thigh problem. New signing Anthony Pilkington will be hoping to keep his place in the starting 11 after an impressive debut last weekend and former Owls loan player Callum McManaman is likely to be in the Latics squad if not the starting line-up.
The Owls will be looking to pick up more points at home in the second half of the season as their current tally of 18 points from 13 games on their own turf is the 4th least in the Championship. Wigan should represent a good opprtunity for Wednesday to improve their record at Hillsborough as the Latics have lost 10 of their 13 Championship away matches so far.
Wednesday were poor in a 3-0 defeat at Hull Cty last weekend but that is the Owls only loss in their last 6 games. Wigan only have 1 win from their last 6 matches but that victory was an impressive 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa last Saturday.
In 9 competitive meeting between the 2 teams there has never been a draw with Wednesday winning 5 of those matches, though they were beaten 3-2 at Wigan on the opening day of this season.