The league’s basement side Sheffield Wednesday provide the perfect opportunity to bounce back from a disappointing performance and result against Leicester.

They’ve had one win all season (2-0 against Portsmouth) but have had six creditable draws and beat both Bolton and Leeds in the Carabao Cup, which shows that this game isn’t necessarily a complete forgone conclusion.

Goalkeeper

Pierce Charles is back in goal after a brief spell out with injury. The 20-year-old is a graduate of the Manchester City academy and has a promising career ahead of him with 20 appearances under his belt for Wednesday so far. He currently sits on –1.26 goals prevented which although negative is much better than his November replacement Ethan Horvath.

Horvath, who is on loan from Cardiff, filled in from August to November and conceded 28 goals from 79 shots in that time.

Defenders

Wednesday have unsurprisingly largely operated this season with a back five combining three experienced centre-backs with more youthful wing-backs.

Former Town loanee Dominic Iorfa sits on the right-hand side of that back three. He largely played as a right wing-back in his time at Town but has since been converted into a right-sided centre-back. He’s been at Wednesday since 2019 and is one of their longest-serving players.

Max Lowe has played the last couple of games on the left side and is one of a select group of players to have played for both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

In the middle is former Leeds man Liam Cooper. Now 34, he returned to English football this summer following a spell at CSKA Sofia.

With an average age of 19 years old, the two wing-backs are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Sean Fusire spent last year out on loan at Carlisle but given the financial situation at the club has made 21 appearances so far this season at right wing-back. He is off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Zimbabwe so will be missing for this one.

On the other side is Harry Amass, who is on loan from Manchester United. Despite hos parent club’s manager Ruben Amorim claiming he is struggling this week, Amass has actually been one of the Owls’ best performers and has a bright future ahead of him.

He’s played for England in all age groups from the U15s to the U19s so far and has good numbers in terms of both successful dribbles and duels won per game.

Guiherme Siqueira, Di’Shon Bernarnd and Olaf Kobacki are all injury absentees which leaves just two senior players as back-ups in the squad in the shape of Yan Valery and Liam Palmer.

Palmer was the scorer of the famous goal in the League One play-off semi-final against Peterborough that levelled the scores at 4-4 and has chalked up 452 appearances over 12 years with the Owls. Now 34 years of age, he’s now very much a rotation option.

Valery is one of the highest profile players still at the club having featured for Southampton in the Premier League before moving to France with Angers in 2022. He returned to English football with Wednesday and has 59 appearances for the club. He’s a Tunisian international so will be missing for this one as he also participates in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Young Irishman Gabreil Otegbayo is another promising young centre-back standing at 6ft 4in. He’s made five starts this season and could be needed again in this run of games.

Midfield

Barry Bannan is still dominating midfields despite being 36 years of age and being surrounded by the weakest set of players in the Championship, which shows his class.

By having two midfielders alongside him, it lets him do what he does best, get on the ball and create chances, which he does regularly. He averages 2.23 chances created a game putting him in the top 2% of midfielders in the league on that particular metric.

Alongside him are two taller workhorses in Svante Ingelsson and Charlie McNeill. Ingelsson is a 6ft 2in tall Swede, who’s played all across Europe and joined the club in 2024, while McNeill came through the Manchester United academy and was also picked up on a free in 2024.

Thirty-one-year-old Nathanial Chalobah, the older brother of ex-Town loanee Trevoh, provides experienced depth but is now out injured, whilst youngsters Rio Shipley, Jarvis Thornton and Bruno Fernandes have all featured as needed and could get time in this one.

Forwards

Wednesday’s three main strikers have just three goals between them but are all solid forwards in the division.

Jamal Lowe’s career has taken him from non-league to being a regular Championship attacker with Wigan, Swansea, Bournemouth and QPR. He has history at Portman Road with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 defeat when he was playing for Swansea in 2023.

Ike Ugbo had a solid start to life in the Championship when he joined Cardiff in 2023 and his move the next season to the Owls was even better, resulting in seven goals. However, last season he failed to find the net at all in 34 appearances and is goalless in 17 this season.

That lack of goals has seen Bailey Cadamarteri start most of the recent games and the 20-year-old is someone who was linked with Town late in the summer window.

He has six goals in 48 appearances for the Owls but has a lot of good raw attributes in terms of pace and strength to have a future at a high level. Playing games regularly for Wednesday will certainly help in that regard.

The Teams

After the massive rotation debate in recent weeks, Kieran McKenna kept a consistent team for games against Coventry, Stoke and Leicester with mixed results. Coventry and Stoke were excellent performances and results but Leicester was poor and lots of players looked tired and jaded.

A bit more dynamism is needed in midfield so Jens Cajuste could come back in for this one and hopefully Sindre Walle-Egeli is fit again after his illness. If not, I really hope the Jack Clarke right wing experiment has ended as I’d much rather see Kasey McAteer there.

Sheffield Wednesday don’t have a large amount of options and are hamstrung even more with injuries and having two right-backs out at the AFCON. Palmer could come in at centre-back with Iorfa moving out to wing-back to plug that gap, but the rest are likely to be largely unchanged.

Prediction

Bottom of the league, one win all season, half a team of U21s and the rest aging Championship stalwarts. This should be an open and shut case, but with Ipswich Town this season nothing is simple. An early goal could set the tone for a big win, but if that doesn’t come then the Owls will certainly prove to be stubborn competitors.

Town should still be able to get the job done, but I don’t think it will be a riot. I’m going for a 2-0 win for Town.

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