Sheffield Wednesday host fellow strugglers Ipswich Town on Saturday as they bid to bounce back from the midweek defeat to Doncaster Rovers.
Wednesday were humbled 2-0 by the visitors on Tuesday and another setback this weekend could see them fall back into the Championship’s bottom three.
Doncaster were deserved winners at Hillsborough and it will be interesting to see if Alan Irvine makes any changes to what was a settled starting line-up as a result of that setback.
Nobody covered themselves in glory in midweek but the performances of wide midfielders Tom Soares and Michael Gray were particularly disappointing and Etienne Esajas could push either player for a starting place. Bringing striker Leon Clarke into the starting eleven and pushing off-form front man Marcus Tudgay out wide is another option open to Irvine should he choose to shake things up.
Ipswich also suffered a demoralising midweek defeat at the hands of rock-bottom Peterborough and the Tractor Boys manager Roy Keane will no doubt be expecting a positive response from his side.
Like the Owls, Ipswich have no fresh injury or suspension concerns after their midweek loss but could make changes based on the disappointing result. Carlos Edwards, Pablo Counago and former Wednesday midfielder Alan Quinn were all on the bench on Tuesday evening and they will be hoping to make the starting line up. In attack the visitors have let ex-Blade Jon Stead go out on loan to Coventry but the Owls will need to be wary of Darryl Murphy. The Irishman, who had a short spell on loan at Hillsborough in the 2005/06 season joined Town from Sunderland on loan in January and has scored three goals in as many appearances for the Suffolk side.
Wednesday’s defeat to Doncaster was their first at home in five games in the league, they have won five and lost three in total since Alan Irvine took charge of the team.
Ipswich’s indifferent form has seen them win two, draw two and lose two of their last six league games but a victory on Saturday would see them go above their opponents and out of the bottom three. Ipswich have a good recent record at Hillsborough, winning two and drawing one of the four meetings at S6 since the Owls returned to the Championship in 2005. Wednesday ground out a 0-0 draw at Portman Road when the two sides last met back in November.