Sheffield Wednesday travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday in search of their 2nd away win of the league season so far.
The Owls have faltered after a brief revival, losing their last 2 games and the pressure is on manager Dave Jones to try and guide the team away from trouble at the wrong end of the Championship table.
The Wednesday manager was critical of the way the Owls were sloppy in conceding possession defensively, particularly for the 2nd goal in their 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough last Friday and that has led to speculation that captain Martin Taylor may be in contention for a recall at centre-back. Full-back Reda Johnson continues to be sidelined with a foot injury.
The Owls are struggling to find the right attacking blend and will be without top scorer Chris O’Grady who has also picked up a foot injury. Gary Madine will be hoping that his performance at Middlesbrough will be enough to see him retain his place in the side. Slovenian Nejc Pecnik scored twice on international in midweek but has been out of favour recently and the formation the team are currently deploying doesn’t really suit him.
Midfielder Chris Lines, who played a major part in Wednesday’s promotion campaign last season, may make the squad but is only likely to be on the bench. Lines is yet to feature this season after picking up an injury in a summer friendly match.
Wednesday fans may be relieved by the fact that Forest striker Marcus Tudgay has moved to Barnsley on loan this week. The former Owls attacker has struggled to find his form at the City Ground but would have been a good bet to score against his former club had he been given the chance. One striker that will be keen to cause problems for Wednesday is ex-Sheffield United favourite Billy Sharp who is likely to be in the starting line-up.
On loan Norwich centre-back Danny Ayala could return to the side following a lay-off due to a hamstring injury but Dan Harding is struggling with a similar problem.
Striker Simon Cox picked up a knock playing for EIRE in midweek and will be assessed ahead of the match.
Wednesday have lost back-to-back matches after previously picking up back-to-back victories. They have collected just 5 points from 8 away league matches so far.
Forest have drawn their last 2 matches but have only lost 1 of their last 8 games.
The Owls were narrowly beaten on their last trip to the City Ground in February 2010, losing 2-1.
Source: Owls-Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
