Barnsley visit Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday lunchtime.
Sheffield Wednesday host Barnsley on Saturday in Hillsborough’s third successive Yorkshire derby.
And Wednesday will be hoping the Tykes’ visit ends more like the last one, against Leeds United, than the first, against their neighbours from the other side of the city.
After back-to-back away defeats since then, the pressure is very much on the Owls, whose chairman this week pledged his support to under fire head coach Carlos Carvalhal.
Wednesday’s quest to climb the Championship table – last season’s fourth-placed team are currently 16th – isn’t aided by the continued absence of creative talents Fernando Forestieri and George Boyd, with striker Jordan Rhodes – a former Barnsley player – also set to miss out through injury.
Carvalhal, who has captain Glenn Loovens suspended, revealed in his press conference on Thursday that the inclusion of Sam Hutchinson – Wednesday’s defensive shield and unlikely goalscorer in this fixture 10 months ago – remains in doubt, after he felt a pain in his knee earlier this week.
That could open door to a rare start for Jacob Butterfield, who was unable to feature against parent club Derby County on Saturday, but will, according to Carvalhal, be used against either Barnsley or Millwall this week, or both.
Like Hutchinson, Butterfield has also scored in this fixture, albeit as a Tykes player eight years ago.
Here’s how Wednesday could look.
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