Newcastle United Under-21s will look to upset the in-form Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday as they travel to Hillsborough to get their EFL Trophy campaign started.
The two teams are joined by League Two opposition in Harrogate Town and Mansfield Town, with the Owls one of the favourites to progress from the group.
Match preview
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Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to get straight back to winning ways on Tuesday after a defeat against Morecambe in their last outing at the weekend.
The Owls had made a perfect start to life in League One, being unbeaten in the opening four fixtures with a trio of wins and a draw helping their bid to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Darren Moore's squad find themselves in second place at the moment with the recent loss seeing them slip from the top spot, but the EFL Trophy will provide a new opportunity for his men.
After being knocked out on penalties by Huddersfield Town in the first round of the EFL Cup, the Owls will likely be looking to progress much further in this competition, which is one that is fresh for the club after nine consecutive seasons in the Championship.
Sheffield Wednesday have worked hard in the attack as of late, but it is defensively where Moore's men have been truly impressive, keeping five clean sheets in all competitions so far, having only conceded once this season.
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The young Magpies have struggled mightily in this tournament over the years, with their last victory in the competition taking place in 2018, having lost every game since that point.
Last season Newcastle's Under-21s finished bottom of their respective group with a trio of losses, only managing to score two goals in the process, both of which came in the same game.
The tournament provides an opportunity for some of the younger players at the club to impress Steve Bruce as they look to knock on the door of the first team.
Newcastle's academy has seen plenty of players make their journeys into the top level of the game with both Matty Longstaff and his brother Sean being great examples of the path that is available.
However, they will need to seriously improve their recent history in the competition, where they have conceded 18 goals in seven fixtures.
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Team News
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Once again, Moore will be without two of his most experienced players with Sam Hutchinson still unavailable due to a problem with his Achilles, meanwhile Josh Windass remains out of action with the hamstring injury he suffered in preseason.
Sheffield Wednesday brought in Olamide Shodipo on loan from Queens Park Rangers recently and this could mark the perfect opportunity for him to debut with the club.
As well as that, Lewis Gibson is set to return to full training from Monday and could be in contention for a place within the squad, while both Sylla Sow and Theo Corbeanu could be in line for their first starts of the season.
As usual for the Premier League teams in this competition, there will be opportunities for a mixture of Under-18s and Under-23s to be involved, with Chris Hogg hoping to guide his team to a victory.
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Peacock-Farrell; Hunt, Iorfa, Palmer, Johnson; Byers, Corbeanu, Paterson, Bannan, Sow; Gregory
Newcastle United Under-21s possible starting lineup:
Langley; Allan, McEntee, Wiggett, Savage; Bondswell, Thomson, Brookwell, White, Vilca; Ferguson
We say: Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Newcastle United Under-21s
After suffering their first league defeat of the season, a fixture against Newcastle's Under 21s is likely to be exactly what the Owls need in order to get back to form.
With the Magpies typically struggling for results in this competition and Sheffield Wednesday having one of the strongest squads in the tournament, it should be a routine win for the League One outfit.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sheffield Wednesday win with a probability of 71.5%. A draw had a probability of 17.7% and a win for Newcastle United Under-21s had a probability of 10.78%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield Wednesday win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.45%) and 3-0 (9.54%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.43%), while for a Newcastle United Under-21s win it was 0-1 (3.77%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sheffield Wednesday would win this match.
