Aston Villa vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Villa ParkAttendance31,143.
Friday 10 March 2017 16:29, UK
Alan Hutton is the latest Aston Villa player to fall foul of the club's injury crisis ahead of Saturday's clash with Sheffield Wednesday.
The full-back is waiting to find out the extent of a knee injury suffered during last weekend's victory over Rotherham.
Jack Grealish, Scott Hogan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Birkir Bjarnason and Andre Green all remain sidelined, although Hogan is making good progress from his ankle injury and could return next weekend.
Leandro Bacuna serves the fourth of his six-game ban for barging into an assistant referee during last month's win over Derby.
Sheffield Wednesday pair Sam Hutchinson and Callum McManaman could both return to contention. Midfielder Hutchinson (knee) missed the midweek home draw against Burton and winger McManaman also sat it out due to a groin problem.
Defender Tom Lees is closing in on his return, but is not expected back in time for Saturday after missing the last eight games due to a knee injury. Striker Steven Fletcher and wingers Adam Reach and Will Buckley are pushing for a place in the starting line-up after stepping off the bench on Tuesday night.
Opta stats
Aston Villa have a 100% home win record over the Owls in the second tier, winning all four matches - though the last of those games was played in October 1974.
Sheffield Wednesday did, however, win on their last trip to Villa Park in November 2001, a 1-0 win in the fourth round of the League Cup with a goal by Efan Ekoku.
After a run of nine games without a win, Steve Bruce's side have won three of their last four in the Championship, though they did lose in midweek at Huddersfield.
Ross Wallace has scored in his last two Championship games for the Owls - the last time he scored in three consecutive league games was with Burnley in November 2011.
Jonathan Kodjia has scored 37% of Aston Villa's league goals this season (13/35) - only Leeds' Chris Wood (44%) and Bristol City's Tammy Abraham (40%) have scored a higher percentage for their club.
The Owls have scored in 31 of their 36 league games this season - the highest percentage in the division (86%).
Prutton's prediction
We have seen different sides of Wednesday over the last three games. Losing to Leeds, thrashing Norwich and then drawing against Burton.
Steve Bruce looked to be working wonders when he started at Aston Villa but they haven't been able to keep that form up and I think Wednesday will just shade it.
David Prutton predicts: 0-1 (13/2 with Sky Bet)
