Sheffield Wednesday travel to Reading on Saturday in search of three points in what is an important fixture for both sides at the foot of the Coca Cola Championship table.
Captain Darren Purse was a late omission fro the side that lost last weekend at home to Ipswich and the captain is set to remain sidelined through injury. Wednesday do not have any fresh injury or suspension problems but on the back of two defeats and two disappointing performances Alan Irvine may choose to make some changes.
Midfielder Tommy Miller has returned to training but given the lengthy spell he has had out through injury he made need to get a reserve fixture or two under his belt before being thrown into the first team fold.
Attacking players Jermaine Johnson and Francis Jeffers have also resumed training this week after shorter spells out but Saturday’s trip to Berkshire may come too soon and Alan Irvine may be reluctant to risk JJ just yet as he could have a major part to play in the final stages of the season.
Other options open to Irvine include recalling Tom Soares after the midfielder was dropped from the starting line up last Saturday, fellow midfielder Sean McAllister is also in contention and Leon Clarke is a consideration up front with the Owls having gone two games without a goal.
Wednesday may well take encouragement from the fact that Reading had to go through 120 minutes of football in the F.A Cup on Wednesday evening though the Royals could be buoyed by the fact that they eventually managed to book a quarter-final place at the hands of in-form West Bromwich Albion.
The home side will definitely be without tricky winger Joby McAnuff and striker Shane Long as the pair are suspended. Kalifa Cisse, a scorer at Hillsborough in the reverse fixture back in December is struggling with injury as is Jem Karacan.
Reading’s recent form belies their lowly position in the table as they have lost just one of their last seven matches. Their problems do however stem largely as a result of their home form as they have won just three of fourteen league matches at the Madejski this season.
After an upturn in results when Alan Irvine took the Hillsborough hot seat Wednesday have slumped back into trouble more recently, losing four of their last six games.
The Owls lost 2-0 to Reading at Hillsborough earlier in the season and do not have happy memories of the few visits that they have made to the Madejski Stadium. Since the Royals relocated to the stadium named after their Chairman Wednesday have made three visits and have failed to return with a single point, conceding 10 goals and scoring just one in reply, last season’s visit ended in a humiliating 6-0 defeat.