Fulham vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Craven CottageAttendance20,165.
Friday 18 August 2017 15:19, UK
Fulham will be without Lucas Piazon for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday.
The on-loan Chelsea midfielder faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he suffered a broken leg in Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Leeds. Boss Slavisa Jokanovic could add Sheyi Ojo to his squad after signing the young forward on loan from Liverpool. Tom Cairney's knee injury will be assessed while Tomas Kalas returns from suspension.
Sheffield Wednesday's latest signing Frederico Venancio could make his debut for the club. Centre-half Venancio has joined on a season-long loan from Portuguese side Vitoria Setubal and is likely to feature if Glenn Loovens fails to recover from the back injury that ruled him out of the midweek draw against Sunderland.
Sam Hutchinson and fellow midfielder Almen Abdi will be assessed as they manage respective ongoing knee problems, while summer signing George Boyd, Jordan Rhodes and Steven Fletcher are pushing for recalls. Head coach Carlos Carvalhal must decide whether to recall Fernando Forestieri, who has missed two games following a training ground bust-up with team-mate Sam Winnall.
Fulham have kept just one clean sheet in their last 16 matches against Sheffield Wednesday in all competitions (4-0 in Dec 2014), with Marcus Bettinelli keeping net in that clash.
The Owls won all three matches vs Fulham in 2015-16 but failed to win either Championship fixture against the Lilywhites in 2016-17 (D1 L1).
Fulham have drawn their opening three league games to a season - they've never opened the campaign with four draws.
Including play-offs, Sheffield Wednesday have lost just one of their last six Championship away games (W3 D2), though it was their season opener against Preston.
Sam Winnall has scored in three of his last five league appearances for Sheffield Wednesday, this after netting in one of his first 11.
A good match-up this. Both sides are still chasing a first league win after being tipped for big things at the start of the season. Lucas Piazon is a huge loss to Fulham and they've also missed Tom Cairney in the last couple of games.
There's a presumption that because they both made the top six last year that they'll do it again, but everyone has improved this season and often if you're standing still you're going backwards. I can see them cancelling each other out.
Prutton predicts: 1-1 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
