Mark Hughes tells Stoke to show Sheffield Wednesday respect
Mark Hughes has warned Stoke they must treat Sheffield Wednesday with respect to avoid become their next victim.
They host the Owls in the Capital One Cup quarter final on Tuesday with the visitors having already claimed the top-flight scalps of Newcastle and Arsenal.
Wednesday shocked the Gunners 3-0 in the last round having already stunned the Magpies at St James' Park and boss Hughes is wary of the Sky Bet Championship side's threat.
He said: "We won't underestimate Sheffield Wednesday in any way, shape or form, if you look at their progression in the competition they have beaten two Premier League sides already.
"We're at home and when the draw was made if we're honest enough we can say they were one of the teams we wanted to have.
"You can't argue about that. If we're going to progress it should be in our favour."
Ryan Shawcross is suspended after his red card in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Sunderland but Jack Butland, who saved Eden Hazard's penalty to send Stoke through in a shoot-out against Chelsea in the last round, will start.
Hughes added: "You have to lick your wounds and get on with it basically, On the day it (Shawcross' red) was a little bit disappointing.
"We want to progress in the competition, I've made changes before because I've felt players needed to be protected in some games but the vast majority of games we've gone strong. We can do because we have got a strong squad.
"Jack will play, we're missing Shay Given at the moment."
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal hopes the club's travelling fans can inspire his players to produce more Capital One Cup heroics.
A sold-out Hillsborough played its full part when Carvalhal's side stunned Arsenal in a 3-0 win in the previous round and more than 4,500 Owls supporters are expected to follow them to the Britannia Stadium in the hope of another big upset.
Carvalhal, coach of Turkish side Besiktas when they lost 2-1 at Stoke in the Europa League in 2011, is already hugely popular with Owls fans having lifted the gloom at the club since taking over in the summer and is keen for his players to make them proud.
"I went there with Besiktas in the Europa League and we maybe had 3,000 or 4,000 fans and I remember the players in that moment," Carvalhal told a press conference at the club's Middlewood Road training ground.
"When they went to warm up they were filled with extra energy because they saw people had come from far away to follow us and support us and we must give something to them.
"It will be cold (on Tuesday night) and there will be rain probably. It's not a good day to go to the football and if you have 4,000 fans there or whatever, I said to my players we must play to our fans.
"There will be 4,000 fans in the rain and cold and they pay for a ticket to see us play. This means we must play to them.
"It happened at Blackburn (on Saturday) and it will happen again. We must play to all the fans. We will give 300 per cent, give everything on the pitch and we will do that."
Carvalhal's side also dumped Newcastle out of the competition but although they have lost only one of their last 14 matches in all competitions, the Portuguese insists Mark Hughes' Stoke are clear favourites to reach the last four.
"They are the favourites of course," he said. "First because they are a Premier (League) team, second because they play at home and third because they have a very strong squad and a good coach.
"They have beaten some good teams in the last few weeks, they are absolutely the favourites but we will have a percentage of chances and we will fight and play good football and try to win the game."
Fernando Forestieri is ineligible and Joe Wildsmith will replace Keiren Westwood (Achilles) in goal.
Midfielders Barry Bannan and Filipe Melo, defender Michael Turner (all knee), forwards Sergiu Bus and Marco Matias (hernia), plus defender Vincent Sasso are all sidelined.
But striker Gary Hooper has been given permission to play by parent club Norwich and Sam Hutchinson returns to contention after a two-match ban.
Source: PAR
