Match Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs. Sheffield United

Last updated : 18 March 2011 By @blades_mad1889

United go into the Sheffield Derby after beating Millwall 3-1 on Tuesday night, on the same day Wednesday picked up a point away at Molineux in a 2-2 draw against table toppers Wolverhampton Wanderers.

There are no fresh injury worries for Neil Warnock, but Robert Page will still be out of action.

Paul Peschisolido and Laurens Ten Heuvel has strengthened the squad after playing in the reserves 3-0 victory against Walsall. Peschisolido scored a goal and Grant Smith grabbed the other two. 

Michael Brown looks promising as he trained with the team on Tuesday night but did not  feature on the substitutes bench, he will hopefully be in squad to face the Owls.

If the team does line-up without Brown then it could look like this:

Paddy Kenny, Robert Kozluk, Shaun Murphy, Steve Yates, Robert Ullathorne, Jon-Paul McGovern, Phil Jagielka, Stuart McCall, Michael Tonge, Iffy Onoura, Carl Asaba.

In the summer Wednesday spent like United and brought in freebies like: Jon Beswetherick (Plymouth Argyle), Lloyd Owusu (Brentford), Leon Knight (seasons loan from Chelsea) and Paul Evens (Jomo Cosmos (South Africa)).

We are unsure of what Injury worries Terry Yorath has but we do know that Dutch striker Gerald Sibon will be out through suspension after his sending off in the 4-0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest.

If Sheffield Wednesday do line-up like they did against Wolves then it will look like this:

Kevin Pressman, Derek Geary, Leigh Bromby, Ashley Westwood, David Burrows, Paul McLaren, Tond Soltvedt, Gerald Sibon (Lloyd Owusu may take his place), Leon Knight, Craig Armstrong, Shefti Kuqi.

For the Owls, the Blades biggest threat will come from finish International striker Shefti Kuqi who scored both goals in the 2-2 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

This is not Wednesday's first derby game of the 2002/03 season, before playing Wolves they faced Rotherham United at home on Saturday. The Millers beat Wednesday 2-1, Armstrong opened for Owls after 8 minutes, Alan Lee equalised with a penalty on 20th minute mark while the match winner came from Darren Garner in last minute of normal time.

In last seasons short trip to Hillsborough United scored when Suffo put Asaba through on goal who gladly slipped it past Pressman, the referee's assistant sadly gave off side even when Wednesdayites said he was on, the game ended 0-0.

Prediction: It is a very local derby where pride is worth more than points, the form book goes out of the window in these sorts of games so I am not going to make any sort of prediction for this game.