Sheffield Wednesday can move into the Championship’s top six if they win at Burton.
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal
Sheffield Wednesday can continue their rise up the Championship table by beating Burton Albion on Saturday.
But despite the two teams’ contrasting pre-season expectations, a trip to the Pirelli Stadium is one of which Wednesday will no doubt be wary.
The Owls were soundly beaten in Staffordshire around this time last year, and should be looking to replicate the performance they showed at Fulham – and not Bolton – this past week.
Of Carlos Carvalhal’s seven changes in Lancashire, only Jordan Rhodes emerged with any real credit, having scored both of his side’s goals as they tried unsuccessfully to claw their way back from three down.
Sheffield Wednesday striker Jordan Rhodes
But while Rhodes could be rewarded with a start against Burton, that would mean splitting up what is arguably Wednesday’s most effective strike pairing of Gary Hooper an Steven Fletcher – the match winner at Craven Cottage.
And you sense that only a recurrence of Fletcher’s recent fitness problems will lead to a second successive start for Rhodes, in what should be an otherwise unchanged eleven from Saturday’s trip to the capital.
New signing Frederico Venancio has at long last been granted permission to play, although Carvalhal has little reason to remove Daniel Pudil from his role as a makeshift centre-back, with Glenn Loovens not yet ready to return.
The Burton game may also come to soon for Owls midfielders Kieran Lee and Sam Hutchinson.
Here’s HITC’s predicted Sheffield Wednesday eleven:
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