Sheff Wed v Wolves: League leaders to continue title assault

Sheffield Wednesday v Wolves
Friday 15th December, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports

Last chance saloon for Carvalhal?

Sheffield Wednesday saw their seven-game unbeaten streak come to a close last Saturday evening as the Owls chucked away a half-time lead to lose 3-1 at Norwich, falling to the Canaries' first home triumph in over three months.

The result and manner of the performance has piled the pressure on manager Carlos Carvalhal coming into Friday night's fixture with media reports now suggesting the Portuguese boss will be axed should Wednesday fail to find a third victory in their last 11 outings.

Carvalhal will be absent from the sidelines due to a touchline ban but is confident Jack Hunt, Almen Abdi and Steven Fletcher will shake off their injury problems to be available for the hosts here. Meanwhile, Kieran Lee and Adthe Nuhiu are both pushing for starts whilst Fernando Forestieri, George Boyd and Sam Hutchinson all remain injured.

Wolves bidding to bounce back after blip

League leaders Wolves saw their six-game winning streak come to an end last Saturday as a stubborn Sunderland outfit claimed a 0-0 draw at Molineux. The Old Gold fired in 23 shots to the Black Cats' one but barely forced visiting goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter into a save.

Nuno Espirito Santo was understandably frustrated by the final score, especially so considering the Wearsiders played almost half an hour with 10 men after Lee Cattermole was sent off. Nevertheless, should the table-toppers win here they will reach the 50-point mark in just 22 games, the fastest since Wolves themselves did so in 2008/09 on their way to securing the title.

Nuno is preparing to name another unchanged XI as Wanderers seek to cement their position at the top of tree. With a clean bill of health heading into this fixture, the only question mark surrounds whether Romain Saiss or Alfred N'Diaye starts in the centre of the park.

Old Gold can pocket the points

Wolves have W8-D9-L1 of their last 18 trips to Hillsborough and the Old Gold boast four clean sheets in their most recent five visits in league football. With Nuno's men bossing the second-tier this season - averaging a 72% Expected Goals ratio from open play - it's no great surprise to see the visitors chalked up as 2.16 pre-match favourites.

Wanderers have won their last three away Championship matches without conceding a goal - should the guests repeat the feat on Friday, it will be the first time in Wolves' long history they've returned four successive wins 'to nil' on their travels. It's available to back at 13/5.

Wednesday fans have become disillusioned with Carlos Carvalhal's football and with theOwls devoid of creativity and passion, it's difficult to find the faith in the under-achieving hosts here despite their bulbous match price of 3.65.

The hosts have W5-D4-L2 when taking on teams above them in the standings this season and do boast a strong record when welcoming league opposition to Hillsborough. However, if we view that return against top-six sides, the Owls have managed just W2-D5-L5 at home to the Championship elite under Carvalhal.

Back both sides to oblige

One of Sheffield Wednesday's biggest issues this term has been their inability to shutout opposition attacks. The Owls have recorded a paltry four shut outs in 21 outings, including only two of 10 at Hillsborough.

Still, the home side have been consistent going forward, especially so on home soil. Only once this term have the Owls fired a blank at Hillsborough and stretching back to last season they've netted in 28 of their last 31 as hosts, of which 15 of the last 19 saw both teams score.

Wolves may boast the best defensive record on their travels in the Championship but a kind fixture list - facing only two top-10 teams - may have contributed to such a return and so with seven of Wednesday's past 12 home ties against top-six sides seeing Both Teams To Scorebank, backing a repeat appeals at 1.86.

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