Owls Vs Trotters: Team news & preview
Sheffield Wednesday face Bolton Wanderers at Hillsborough on Saturday and both sides know the clash gives them the opportunity to put more daylight between themselves and the bottom 3 in the Championship. Wednesday are currently 7 points above the drop zone, 2 points ahead of Wanderers with 10 games to go.
Wednesday are likely to welcome defenders Daniel Pudil and Frederico Venancio back into the starting 11 after both were only deemed fit enough for a place on the bench during the midweek defeat to Ipswich. Tom Lees likely to keep his place having made his first start of 2018 on Tuesday but experienced centre-back Glenn Loovens could drop out as he continues to struggle for form.
Joost Van Aken and Sam Hutchinson played for the academy in midweek but are not likely to return to the first team yet, Barry Bannan and Fernando Forestieri are back in training but still some way off a first team return. There is no definitive news regarding the return of the likes of Gary Hooper, Kieran Lee, Keiren Westwood and Marco Matias.
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson shuffled his line-up for the 1-1 draw at Reading in midweek after a disappointing display in a 3-1 local derby defeat to Preston last weekend. Established first team names like David Wheater and Josh Vela didn’t make the squad for Tuesday’s draw and it will be interesting to see of any make a return. Sammy Ameobi, who scored against the Owls earlier in the season, missed out with a back problem but could be fit to make the squad on Saturday.
Wednesday have lost 5 in a row in all competitions and in their last 10 home league games they have lost 6 and won just 1.
Bolton’s last 6 matches have resulted in 1 win, 2 draws and 3 defeats. They currently have the worst away record in the Championship having won 1 and drawn 7 of their 18 matches on the road to date.
Wanderers have already beaten the Owls twice on home soil this season, knocking them out of the League Cup 3-2 in August and claiming a 2-1 win in October, their first league win of the season. Wednesday won the last time the two teams met at Hillsborough in January 2016 but Bolton had won on their previous four visits prior to that.