Brian Laws takes his Sheffield Wednesday side to the road again on Saturday following the latest international break to face Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town in a tea time clash in front of the Sky TV cameras.
The pair, who played together at Nottingham Forest in the early 90’s, will both be eager to grab maximum points after sluggish starts to their Coca Cola Championship campaigns.
The game appears to have come at the wrong time for Owls midfielder Tommy Miller. The former Ipswich stalwart would have no doubt been eager to impress against his old club but a hamstring injury picked up in training in the past week looks set to rule him out.
On a brighter note for the Owls, Michael Gray is set to return having missed the last two games with a hamstring injury and could replace Miller in the starting line-up.
Etienne Esajas and Darren Purse are also back in contention following short spells on the sidelines whilst the club must assess the fitness of winger Jermaine Johnson who played 75 minutes for Jamaica in a 0-0 draw against South Africa in Bloemfontein in midweek.
The home side are also boosted by players returning from injury with central defenders Tommy Smith and Gareth McAuley both likely to be available. Despite this Roy Keane may choose to stick with Damien Delaney and former Owl Alex Bruce at the heart of the defence following a couple of solid defensive displays.
Town have been struggling for goals of late and former Sheffield United striker Jon Stead could find his place under threat from Pablo Counago who put in an impressive display for the reserves in midweek. Ex-Owls midfielder Alan Quinn has recently returned to the Ipswich starting line up and is in line to feature against his former club.
Wednesday will be looking to address a run of form that has seen them win just 1 of their last 6 games, a spell that has included 4 defeats. The Owls have still only recorded 1 victory on the road so far this season and have lost on both of their previous televised appearances during the campaign, shipping 7 goals in the process.
Ipswich are improving after a disastrous start to the season and are on a run of 5 games unbeaten. Despite their poor start they have only lost twice on their own patch in the league and are just five points behind Wednesday in the Championship table.
Last seasons matches between the two sides ended in draws but Ipswich have the edge in the encounter between the two since the Owls returned to the second tier having beaten Wednesday on 4 occasions and lost twice. Wednesday’s last win at Portman Road was in November 2006, by two goals to nil thanks to strikes from Tudgay and Bougherra.