Sheffield Wednesday v Derby preview
Tuesday 13 February 2018 12:05, UK
Sheffield Wednesday pair Glenn Loovens and Daniel Pudil will return to contention for the home game against Derby on Tuesday night.
Loovens missed the weekend draw at Barnsley through illness while fellow defender Pudil served a one-match ban. Defender Jack Hunt could also return to contention and midfielder David Jones has recovered from the knock which forced him off on Saturday.
But boss Jos Luhukay still has a long injury list, with Almen Abdi, Tom Lees, Keiren Westwood, Gary Hooper, Kieran Lee, Barry Bannan and Fernando Forestieri all unavailable.
Derby boss Gary Rowett will check on the fitness of three players. Defender Curtis Davies (hip), midfielder George Thorne (back) and top scorer Matej Vydra (groin) are all nursing knocks following the home draw with Norwich on Saturday.
Sam Winnall has a knee injury, although the on-loan striker would not have been eligible to play against his parent club anyway. Goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell remains sidelined as he continues his recovery from a broken finger.
Opta stats
The Owls have won one of their last 19 matches against Derby in all competitions (D8 L10), winning 2-1 at Hillsborough in last season's Championship fixture.
Derby haven't lost back to back away league trips to Sheffield Wednesday since December 1987.
Wednesday are yet to win under new manager Jos Luhukay in a league match, drawing four of his five matches (L1).
The Rams have only conceded two Championship goals in 2018, fewer than any other side.
Atdhe Nuhiu has had a hand in six goals in his last four starts in all competitions (four goals, two assists).
The last time Derby had conceded as few as 24 goals after 31 league matches of a season was in 1985-86 (also 24) - the Rams won promotion from the third tier that season.
Prutton's prediction
Slowly but surely, Sheffield Wednesday appear to be edging towards trouble. Their owners must be scratching their heads as they look at what Carlos Carvalhal is doing at Swansea in the Premier League at the moment!
Derby looked favourites for the second automatic promotion spot recently, but they've been drawing too many games lately while Aston Villa have looked unstoppable and nicked their place. That being said, I'm backing a narrow Rams win.
David Prutton predicts: 0-1 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
