Owls aiming to soar as they visit Seagulls

09 April 2011 00:38
Brighton Vs Wednesday: team news & preview Sheffield Wednesday face the daunting task of a trip to league leaders Brighton on Saturday but they will be in buoyant mood following back-to-back home wins in the past week. Having won 4-0 in midweek against Tranmere Gary Megson will be reluctant to make any changes to his starting 11 with tiredness perhaps the only issue following 2 games in a week. Neil Mellor is set to continue his partnership in attack with Gary Madine having returned to form since regaining his place in the side. The home side are boosted by the returns of defender Adam El-Abd, striker Ashley Barnes and midfielder Jamie Smith. Smith has only featured a handful of times this season due to a long injury lay-off and is unlikely to be in contention to start the game but El-Abd and Barnes have been regular starters for the Seagulls this term and could well take their place in the first eleven. Glenn Murray is likely to be the man the Owls should be most wary of. The former Rochdale striker has hit 20 league goals this season in helping Brighton to what looks like being certain promotion as champions of League One. Only the bottom two teams - Swindon and Plymouth – have suffered more away defeats in League One than the 11 that the Owls have had so far this season. In contrast Brighton are yet to lose at home with 15 wins and 4 draws to their name, emphasising the size of the task facing the visitors. Furthermore, the league leaders are in superb form and are currently unbeaten in 9 games, winning 8 of these. Wednesday do have recent history on their side however as they won the meeting of the two sides at Hillsborough by a goal to nil back in August, Giles Coke scoring the only goal of the game. The Owls also won on their last visit to Brighton, 2-0 in 2006 and have been victorious on 4 of their 9 visits to the south-coast club, losing just twice.

Source: FOOTYMAD