Football Results

Because of Sheffield Wednesday obligations in the FA Cup this team will play its match of the 32nd round of Championship already on Tuesday evening, when it will meet third-placed Derby County, which at the moment has even 24 points more and is positioned 14 placed above them. Besides, their match played in Derby last autumn had ended as sound victory of the home team 2-0.

Sheffield Wednesday

True, Sheffield Wednesday won at home 2-1 last year, which meant it stayed undefeated for the third time in a row after home match with Derby. What doesn’t come handy for the home team ahead of the match is fact that they won the last time on the Boxing Day, when they played away with Nottingham Forrest. After that Sheffield Wednesday won Carlieslea and Reading in the FA Cup, while in the league it has 7-game winless streak of four draws and three defeats.

After two consecutive defeats suffered at the beginning of season they brought new manager Luhukay, who for the time being has improved only the defence, while many things are still wrong with the attack. However, he has an excuse for weaker results in numerous absences, and the situation is unchanged for match with Derby. Due to injuries the match will skip goalkeeper Westwood, defenders Lees and van Aken, midfielders Huthchinson, Lee and Bannan, and forwards Froestieri, Hooper and Fletcher, while forward Matias is suspended and cannot play.

Probable lineups Sheffield Wednesday: Wildsmith – Venancio, Pudil, Thorniley – Palmer, Wallace, Pelupessy, Reach, Fox – Joao, Nuhiu

Derby County

The guests from Derby are in much better mood than their counterparts from Sheffield Wednesday ahead of their league match given that they occupy the third place in the Championship table at the moment, and have just one point fewer than second-placed Aston Villa. It means that are still in race for direct promotion to the Premier League, which is something they have been waiting for full 10 years.

True, Derby County has eased a bit lately as it won just one and drew even three matches out of last four, although we need to stress they had conceded just one goal in the same period. Of course, that implies that will play very strong defence now against Sheffield Wednesday, while in attack they mostly rely on Czech Vydra after Winnall got injured, as well as experienced Jerome who recently arrived from Norwich.

Probable lineups Derby County: Carson – Wisdom, Keogh, Davies, Olsson – Huddlestone, Johnson – Lawrence, Vydra, Anya – Jerome

Verdict:

Although plagued with numerous absences Sheffield Wednesday lost just one out of last eight matches, and consequently we expect from them to fight hard in this match with third-placed Derby County, especially as they significantly improved their defence after arrival of new manager Luhukay.

Pick:  under 2.5 goals 1.69 -69/100 @1XBet