Early-season strugglers Sheffield Wednesday head to Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth on Saturday. The visitors head into the game floundering in 23rd, sitting on just one point. Portsmouth, on the other hand, are sitting smack in 9th place on eight points from five matches, a point from a playoff spot. Portsmouth have not beaten the Owls in their last six meetings.
The last time these teams met at Fratton Park, Connor Ogilvie’s opening striker was not enough for a point as Michael Smith and Josh Windass’ second-half strikes gave the Owls the win against Pompey.
Since then, a lot has changed with both clubs. Pompey has made some shrewd signings with the free acquisitions of John Swift from West Bromwich Albion and goalkeeper Josef Bursik from Club Brugge. English centre-back Josh Knight joined from German club Hannover 96, and they secured loan signings of talented youngster Yang Min-Hyeok from Tottenham and Ipswich Town’s Conor Chaplin.
Sheffield’s Situation
Sheffield Wednesday have not had the best of summers. Due to a number of financial troubles, including the late payments of wages to staff, players, and also outstanding transfer fees to other clubs. This caused a mass exodus of players in the summer, which led to them having only Pierce Charles as a goalkeeper. Due to this, they received a transfer embargo for the next three transfer windows. The club was not able to improve much and only made loan signings of Ethan Horvath and Harry Amass.
The Home Team
Portsmouth head into this game after a 0-0 draw with promotion chasers Southampton this past Sunday. That point did come at a cost as starting goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid suffered a fracture to his hand and will be out for the next eight to twelve weeks. This will see a change between the sticks with Ben Killip the likely stand-in for the time being.
Callum Lang will also miss the clash, having suffered a hamstring injury while playing against Norwich City. Thomas Waddingham has a quad injury, and Marlon Pack is still recovering from surgery to his knee. Harvey Blair is on the comeback trail and should be back to full team training in a couple of weeks, but will unavoidably miss the game vs. Sheffield Wednesday. Jacob Farrell, who suffered a knee injury, is currently training with the squad.
Speaking to the club, top scorer Adrian Segecic said, “The mood is really high” as they welcome a return to their home ground. Colby Bishop, who was the team’s top scorer last season with 11 goals, will be looking to tack on some more against one of the worst defenses in the championship.
The Visitors
Wednesday head into this game coming off three straight defeats in all competitions, most recently a 1-0 defeat in the League Cup to fourth division side Grimsby Town. Their solitary point came away to Wrexham in an enticing 2-2 draw at the Racecourse.
Olaf Kobacki will be out until after the October international break and miss the clash due to an issue with his groin. Reece Johnson is in need of stitches to his foot after some bad tackles against Grimsby and is expected to miss between 1-3 weeks. Di’shon Bernard is still recovering from a knee injury and should be into light training this month.
Still smarting from his first international goal for Jamaica, Bailey Cademarteri will be looking to add to his only goal of the season which he got in the draw against Wrexham. Loanee Harry Amass will be trying to put his debut behind him after that own goal and try to catapult his team to a first victory of the season.
Conclusion
Based on the current form of both teams, it could be concluded that this will be a tight game leaning towards the home side, but anything can happen in EFL Championship football which is why we love it so much. The game kicks off at 3pm GMT time on Saturday.
