Sheffield Wednesday Vs Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship Saturday 23rd August 2008 3PM
Following on from last week's assured victory over Crystal Palace, Alan Irvine will be hoping that it will not turn out to be a flash out of the pan and that the unbeaten run stretches to four games against Wednesday this coming weekend. The Owls are the visitors to Deepdale on Saturday who have endured a mixed start to the season. Having comprehensively beaten Preston's bitter rivals Burnley 4-1 on the opening day, Wednesday were on the receiving end of the same score line to Wolves at the weekend and will be eager to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
Despite being so early on in the season, it is definitely a big game for both sides as Preston will be striving to keep their unbeaten run going and keep up the momentum whereas Wednesday will be doing anything they can to make sure that their losing one ends.
Brian Laws and his men know what it takes to beat Preston so the result is by no means a foregone conclusion just by going off recent form. If Preston do beat the Owls on Saturday though, then the RSPCB might have to get involved especially after shooting down Neil Warnock's Eagles in full flight at the weekend.
Previous Meetings
As mentioned above, Wednesday had the upper hand last season when the Lilywhites visited Hillsborough as they fell to a 2-1 defeat, despite been 1-0 up when Karl Hawley put the visitors ahead after 35 minutes. However, the corresponding fixture last year, back in September 2007, Preston were victorious as they brushed Wednesday aside in an unconvincing 1-0 win. Paul Gallagher scored his only goal during his loan spell in front of a three sided Deepdale Stadium as the Invincibles Pavilion was merely a spec on the horizon.
The season before though, Preston kicked off their Championship campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to the Owls before easing past them at Hillsborough in a 3-1 win in February 2007. Brett Ormerod plus a brace from David Nugent completed the scoring for Preston that day.
Head to Head
The battle between Marcus Tudgay and Sean St Ledger seems to be the one to stands out above most as the Wednesday striker has proved he can cause havoc against Championship defences. Just ask Graham Alexander as he and his Burnley colleagues will testify. With Tudgay's guile and strength, St Ledger will have to have his wits about him if he is to thwart the Owls' striker.
Team News
With Alan Irvine's not change a winning team mentality, I suspect that the very same side that beat Crystal Palace will start against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Chris Brown is still not ready to make a comeback plus Callum Davidson has withdrawn himself from the Scotland squad through injury meaning Matt Hill should step in at left back.
For the Owls, Francis Jeffers has picked up a groin strain which should rule him out plus Akpo Sodje is out for six months with knee tendon damage. Tony McMahan may make his debut having signed from Middlesbrough on a months loan.