Two in-form, top-10 sides meet in Saturday lunchtime's Championship affair as Sheffield Wednesday welcome Hull City to Hillsborough.
The top half of the Championship is tightly packed after 10 games of the season, and a win for Wednesday would take them level on points with their opponents.
Wednesday
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Under new head coach Carlos Carvalhal, the Owls got off to a winning start with victory over newly-promoted Bristol City on the opening day but then collected just three points out of a possible 18 in a six-game winless run.
They have turned it around of late with three straight wins over Fulham, Brentford and Preston North End to climb into the top half, and Carvalhal will hope that the international break has not dented their momentum.
Saturday's visit of the Tigers will be a sterner test anyway given that the above three wins all came against sides in the bottom half of the table.
If the Owls do make it four league wins in a row it will be the first time since April 2012 they have achieved the feat, and it will be five straight in all competitions after their third-round Capital One Cup triumph away at Newcastle United, which earned them a home tie against Arsenal in the fourth round later this month.
Wednesday have lost just one of their five home league matches so far this season - Middlesbrough downed them 3-1 in August - and they have won their last two at Hillsborough, scoring six goals in the process. With 10 goals at home already this season, Wednesday need just six more to equal the total for the whole of last season in front of their own fans.
The Owls are scoring more freely - only five teams have scored more goals than Wednesday this term - but none of their players have more than two league goals. In total, 11 different players have found the net in the Championship and that is more than any other team in the league.
Recent Championship form: LLDWWW
Recent form (all competitions): LDWWWW
Hull
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The Tigers come into this match as one of four teams in the playoff places on 18 points, two behind Middlesbrough in second and four adrift of league leaders Brighton & Hove Albion, the only unbeaten side left in the division.
They are unbeaten in four games since losing to Brighton a month ago and claimed victory in their last match thanks to Abel Hernandez's goal at Nottingham Forest.
The Uruguayan is the only Hull player with multiple goals in the Championship and has now scored in three of his last four away games to help the Tigers maintain their top-six position.
Arsenal loanee Chuba Akpom is one player struggling. He has not scored since the opening-day win against Huddersfield Town but did net on his debut for the England Under-21s over the international break to boost his confidence.
Hull have won back-to-back away league games for the first time since February 2014 and another here would end a two-and-a-half-year wait for three straight on the road.
Like Wednesday, Steve Bruce's side knocked out Premier League opposition in the League Cup last month and they will look to take another scalp when they welcome high-flying Leicester City in a couple of weeks.
Recent Championship form: WLWDDW
Recent form (all competitions): LWDWDW
Team News
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Carvalhal said today that this would be Wednesday's hardest match of the season and he suggested that Daniel Pudil, Barry Bannan and Fernando Forestieri would all be available for Saturday's game.
It is possible that Carvalhal could name an unchanged starting XI given the Owls' recent form, but the likes of Lewis McGugan and Marco Matias are pushing for starts.
After his goal for the Young Lions, Akpom could be recalled to the starting lineup and be part of a three-pronged attack with Hernandez and Shaun Maloney.
In midfield, Jake Livermore is likely to keep his place alongside Tom Huddlestone after making his first start of the season in the win over Forest.
Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Westwood; Hunt, Turner, Lees, Pudil; Bannan, Lee, Hutchinson; Wallace; Forestieri, Bannan; Nuhiu
Hull possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Elmohamady, Davies, Dawson, Odubajo; Huddlestone, Livermore, Diame; Akpom, Hernandez, Maloney
Head To Head
It is almost three years since these two last played, and in the 2012-13 season the away team won both encounters.
In fact, Hull have won three of their last five league trips to Hillsborough after winning just one of the previous 17.
Wednesday have also failed to keep a clean sheet in nine of their last 10 league encounters against the Tigers.
We say: Wednesday 1-1 Hull
With two weeks since they last played, it is hard to say who goes into this match as favourites. You feel that the international break will have hurt Wednesday more, but they should still match the Tigers and a draw might be the result.
Pascal Lemesre
