A reduced round of matches in the Sky Bet Championship due to the FA Cup gets underway on Friday night when two sides with promotion as their aim this season meet at Hillsborough as Sheffield Wednesday host Sunderland.
Sunderland are firmly on course to challenge for promotion this term and a win here would keep their reduced hopes of going up automatically alive while Wednesday have slipped away from the top six and need a big end to the campaign, ideally beginning here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off at Hillsborough.
Sheffield Wednesday
While this has been a much better season overall for Sheffield Wednesday, they have always been fighting for consistency throughout it. In this division that isn’t always a killer but the problem with it is when you hit a rough patch, like the Owls have, then you can lose ground on the rest rather quickly. On the flip side, a couple of positive results from here and they will be right back in the play-off mix but they can’t afford to leave it too much longer for that turnaround to come.
Wednesday go into this match off the back of a run of two wins in their last nine matches and without a win in any of their last four at home. They have conceded two or more goals in four of their last five at home and even Luton who are terrible on the road managed to score against them. Injuries have been a big reason for that but Danny Rohl will need to find some defensive stability quickly if this season isn’t just going to fizzle out.
Sunderland
Sunderland have suffered successive defeats for the first time this season so they will be keen to turn things around here. To be fair, they probably didn’t deserve to lose to Leeds in the first one of those matches but there is nothing wrong with losing to the runaway leaders. The home loss to Hull would be more of a concern though and that is the one which they could rue if they do just miss out. Sunderland are still in the automatic race courtesy of Sheffield United losing on Monday night but can’t afford to slip up again here.
The Black Cats will be confident of a result in this one having demolished Sheffield Wednesday in the reverse fixture back in August but their own injuries are beginning to mount up and it will be interesting to see how they affect them in this match. Sunderland are a joy to watch going forward but they have looked vulnerable when they have been attacked in this last couple of matches and they’ll be looking to stand up to the test much better here.
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Team News
Sheffield Wednesday have something of a defensive issue to solve at the minute with Dominic Iorfa, Akin Famewo and Di’Shon Bernard all out for this match. Michael Smith and Ibrahim Cissoko have both been ill and will be monitored in the lead up to the game.
Sunderland boss Regis le Bris will have to do without Dan Ballard and Enzo Le Fee until the international break at the very least but they are closer to getting Tom Watson back from injury. Chris Mepham is likely to come in for Ballard.
Betting
Recent form for both of these sides doesn’t exactly inspire a bet. I would be all over Sunderland had it not been for the Enzo Le Fee injury but his absence puts me off getting involved in them as a favourite off the back of a really disappointing performance. Sheffield Wednesday don’t really get me reeled in even as an outsider so given that both teams have issues defensively at the minute I think the goals is the way into this match.
I probably wouldn’t have gone any higher than a 2.5 goal line but as luck would have it we can get on a 2.25 one at a decent enough price which would at least protect half of our stake should we only see two goals. Sheffield Wednesday were exposed by a pretty limited Burnley attack last week so the pace and dynamic element to this Sunderland one should have some joy but Hull could’ve scored every time they went forward against the Black Cats last week and Wednesday generally do score. They have failed to score twice in their last 14 games and they have been against Leeds and Burnley, the two best defences in the league. Over 2.25 goals looks a solid punt when you weigh it all up.
Tips
Back Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
