Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to continue their recent upturn in EFL Championship form as they travel to Coventry City at St Andrew's Stadium on Wednesday 27 January.
The Owls haven’t played a league game since they picked up a 1-0 victory over Derby County on Friday 8 January due to their involvement in the FA Cup, coupled with a two-game postponement after an increase the number of positive coronavirus cases in the Wednesday camp. This also lead to their training ground, Middlewood Road, having to be put under temporary closure.
Wednesday returned to action on Sunday night as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Premier League side Everton in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The South Yorkshire side remain managerless after the sacking of Tony Pulis in December, however, they have won three of their four matches under interim boss Neil Thompson.
With Derby, who sit just outside the relegation spots, picking up successive wins to go above the Owls, Thompson will hope that they can close the six-point gap between themselves and the Rams with a win on Wednesday night.
The Sky Blues have had a relatively positive beginning to life back in the Championship, sitting 18th in the table with a six-point cushion between themselves and the bottom three.
City, however, have only won two of their last nine fixtures in all competitions, and come into this fixture after having not played in eight days.
The Owls are unbeaten in three against Coventry and have only lost twice in their last eight meetings with the Sky Blues.
Team news
Coventry will be without boyhood Blade Kyle McFadzean after the centre-half was sent off in their last outing; Jordan Thompson could deputise in his place.
Ben Sheaf and Maxime Biamou will be hoping to earn recalls to the starting line-up.
Thompson stated after the defeat at Goodison Park on Sunday night that he was hopeful that a few first-team players would return for the Owls.
Tom Lees, Chey Dunkley, Joost van Aken and former City 'keeper Keiren Westwood could all be in line for starts.
Sam Hutchinson, who returned to the club on Monday afternoon, could make his third debut for the club, providing he receives his international clearance.
Jack Marriott and Josh Windass could partner Callum Paterson in attack after the pair returned from injury. However, Andre Green could retain his place in the frontline after impressing on his first outing for the club.
Massimo Luongo has returned to training, but this fixture may come too soon for his return. Liam Shaw may also be touch and go after sustaining a shoulder injury in the cup victory over Exeter City.
Dominic Iorfa and Cameron Dawson remain long-term absentees.
Predicted lineups
Coventry City (3-4-3):
Wilson; Thompson, Ostigard, Hyam; Dabo, Hamer, Sheaf, McCallum; O'Hare, Gyokeres, Shipley.
Sheffield Wednesday (3-5-2):
Wildsmith; Urhoghide, Lees, Börner; Harris, Bannan, Pelupessy, Reach, Penney; Green, Paterson.
Form guide
Coventry have won one of their last seven outings in all competitions.
That success came in a 2-1 victory over Millwall at The Den, however, they have since suffered back-to-back defeats against Norwich City in the FA Cup and a 3-0 hammering from Reading.
City have won four and drawn five of their 11 home fixtures this season.
On the other hand, Sheffield Wednesday have only been victorious twice on the road, drawing two and being on the losing side on seven occasions.
However, their form of late has picked up tremendously. Before they were knocked out of the FA Cup on Sunday, they won four and drew one of their last five games.
Ones to watch
Coventry City – Gustavo Hamer
Gustavo Hamer has impressed in his short time with the Sky Blues, joining in the summer from PEC Zwolle for a fee just exceeding £1m.
According to WhoScored, Gustavo has been Coventry’s best player this season, maintaining a match rating of 6.99. He is also their joint top scorer with four goals this season from central midfield.
Gustavo averages 1.6 tackles per 90 and makes 1.8 interceptions per game, however, he does commit an average of 2.5 fouls, which has led to the Dutchman picking up five yellow cards and one red from his 20 league games this campaign.
On the attacking side, he makes two key passes per game and takes two shots per match.
Sheffield Wednesday – Sam Hutchinson
Hutchinson re-signed for the Owls on Monday afternoon and could be in line to make his first appearance for the club in over a year.
His homecoming spilt the opinion of Wednesday’s fan base, meaning if he is to make his 152nd appearance for the club, he will be pressured to perform and show that he can still hack it at this level. He also made it known in his returning interview that he has been handed an 'incentive deal', which should motivate him to do well.
Over his career, Hutchinson has averaged 2.3 tackles and interceptions per game, and he can play in a variety of positions, including defensive midfield, centre-back, and right-back.
Last time they met
The Owls were victorious the last time these two met in December, which also proved to be Tony Pulis’ last game in charge of Sheffield Wednesday.
Lees headed home in the 67th minute to net the only goal in a tight fixture between these two sides.
It has been over 10 years since Coventry last hosted Wednesday in a competitive fixture, however, that meeting came at the Ricoh Arena.
Former Wednesday captain Richard Wood came back to haunt his former side as his header cancelled out Luke Varney’s opener.
What the managers have said
Former Sheffield Wednesday forward Mark Robins wants his squad to “attack” the rest of the season ahead of Wednesday’s match.
“Sheffield Wednesday have got some good young players, they did pretty well against Everton, but we’re looking forward to it," he said, speaking ahead of Wednesday's visit.
“They rested some players, but we’ll just concentrate on ourselves and look forward to playing on Wednesday evening.
“We want to attack the season with positivity without any fear, that’s the message for the rest of the season like we did last season.
“Games in the second half of the season are all big games, we’ve had good performances but not results, some mistakes cost us last week against Reading and then we had a second weekend without a game.
“We all want to be more clinical, we have to stay true to ourselves and fight and do the things that we know we do well and keep improving on it.”
Interim boss Thompson has called for his side to be positive in their performances.
“At the end of the day, we’re in a position in the Championship where we’ve got to win games so we have to try and be positive,” said Thompson, speaking post-match on Sunday.
“We need to win games, so we have to score goals and create chances. We can’t wait for us not to lose, we’ve got to try and win it and I’m sure whoever’s in charge, that will be the remit."
Where to watch
The match is available on ‘iFollow’ through Coventry City or Sheffield Wednesday’s respective club websites, with match passes at £10 for those in the United Kingdom.