The Sheffield Wednesday defender had been building up his fitness ahead of Aston Villa’s visit.
Jos Luhukay’s questionable team selection at Millwall in midweek earned the Sheffield Wednesday manager a grilling at Thursday’s pre-Aston Villa press conference.
Luhukay failed to name a recognised striker in his starting line-up at the Den, where Wednesday slipped to a 2-1 defeat.
And the Dutchman explained that Wednesday’s ongoing run of Saturday-Tuesday fixtures has forced him to tread carefully with several players who are close to joining an extensive list of Owls’ injury victims.
With only Jordan Rhodes – and potentially Liam Palmer – set to return to Luhukay’s plans for Villa (Tom Lees suffered a setback after Monday’s under-23 fixture), several changes should be expected again.
At least one of those will be enforced, with Jordan Thorniley’s concussion ruling him out under Football Association rules, while Daniel Pudil, Jacob Butterfield, Adam Reach, Sean Clare, Atdhe Nuhiu and Lucas Joao are all in line for recalls.
Former Aston Villa midfielder Barry Bannan, meanwhile, is one of at least 12 confirmed absentees, along with Keiren Westwood, Joost van Aken, Sam Hutchinson, Kieran Lee, Almen Abdi, Fernando Forestieri, Marco Matias, Gary Hooper, Steven Fletcher, Lees and Thorniley.
Here’s how Sheffield Wednesday could look against the Villans…
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