Sheffield Wednesday face local rivals Rotherham United in the League Cup at Hillsborough tonight and are expected to make changes to the side that beat Burnley so convincingly at the weekend.
Akpo Sodje misses out through injury and as a result it seems the long awaited return of Francis Jeffers may again be delayed. Jeffers has been out for over six months and was in line to start tonight but the injury to Sodje could lead to Wednesday taking a more cautious approach with the Liverpudlian.
Instead, Leon Clarke is likely to start upfront alongside either Deon Burton or Marcus Tudgay who scored two goals from a wide midfield role against Burnley.
Jimmy Smith, on loan from Chelsea, should make his first competitive start for the Owls in midfield with Steve Watson and Etienne Esajas also likely to feature.
Peter Gilbert served the final game of a suspension at the weekend and could come into the side if Tommy Spurr is given a rest in the left-back slot.
Should Brian Laws choose to rest a number of his first eleven as is expected then he can certainly keep his options open on the bench should things go against the Owls during the course of the game. The League cup has adopted new Premier League rules that allow 7 substitutes to be named although it will still only be possible to utilise 3 of these throughout the match.
For their part, Rotherham, managed by former Wednesday striker Mark Robins, have a more or less fully fit squad to choose from and will be buoyed by their own opening day victory-a one nil victory over Lincoln at Don Valley Stadium.
The two sides met in the same round at Milmoor last season with the Owls running out 3-1 winners having initially fallen behind. The Millers have a good recent record at Hillsborough having beaten Wednesday in both the 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons.