After a run of five successive away games Sheffield Wednesday return home on Saturday when they face struggling Plymouth Argyle at Hillsborough. The Owls will be looking to continue their recent good form that has seen them collect 4 points from the last two games as they look for a first home win under Gary Megson.
Wednesday have no new injury or suspension concerns and are boosted by the return of midfielder Giles Coke who has now completed a 3-match ban. If Megson chooses to bring Coke straight back into the side then youngster Liam Palmer is the mostly likely candidate to make way.
Other than that it would be something of a surprise if Megson chose to make further changes to the side that won 1-0 at Carlisle last Saturday. There may however be a slight temptation to go with a more attacking side than the 4-5-1 that the Owls have adopted to good effect in recent away games and if this does prove to be the case then Clinton Morrison, Paul Heffernan and Neil Mellor would all be in contention to play alongside Gary Madine in attack. Winger Jermaine Johnson has resumed training following illness but is not yet ready to return to first team action.
Plymouth travel north without the services of midfielder Chris Clark as he starts a 3-match ban following his dismissal in the home win over Colchester last weekend. Fellow midfielder Jim Paterson was substituted last Saturday having picked up a knee injury but he is expected to be fit to face the Owls.
Former Wednesday striker Steve MacLean is Plymouth’s books but will not feature as he is currently enjoying a successful loan spell at Oxford United.
The Owls come into the game on the back of consecutive clean sheets at Bournemouth and Carlisle. They are unbeaten in their last 6 home games in the league but have drawn the last three of these, all with a 2-2 score-line.
Plymouth are currently bottom of the table due to recently having been dealt a 10 point deduction as a result of financial problems, something that owls fans are all too aware of and will no doubt have sympathy with having come close to administration themselves earlier in the season.
After 6 successive defeats Argyle bounced back to record a 2-1 home win against Colchester last weekend despite playing for over half an hour with 10 men.
The two teams met at Home Park back in September with Wednesday going down to a 3-2 defeat. Plymouth have a decent recent record at Hillsborough, having only lost on one of their last 6 visits, though they were beaten 2-1 here last season thanks to a Luke Varney double.