MX23RW : Thursday, November 28 12:20:01| >> :600:268558:268558:
[monks data]
Sheffield Wednesday logo
Championship
Aug 30, 2014 at 12.15pm UK
 
Nottingham Forest logo

0-1

FT(HT: 0-1)
Lansbury (37')

Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs. Nottingham Forest

Sports Mole previews Saturday's early Championship kickoff as unbeaten Sheffield Wednesday host league leaders Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough.

Two of the three remaining unbeaten sides in the Championship go head to head in Saturday's early kickoff as Sheffield Wednesday host Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough.

It is the visitors who will go into the match as slight favourites having made a fine start to life under new manager Stuart Pearce, topping the table after four games.

Pearce is not the only one to have hit the ground running at the club, however, with a number of summer signings impressing in the early stages of their Forest careers.

Britt Assombalonga continued his brilliant start to the season with his fourth goal in his last three starts against Reading last weekend as Forest trounced the Royals 4-0 at the City Ground.

Michail Antonio also scored twice in that match against one of his old clubs, and he will be hoping to find the net again against another former employer this weekend.

Pearce's side maintained their momentum by booking their place in the third round of the League Cup on Tuesday, easing to a 2-0 win away to Huddersfield Town courtesy of two goals in the final 20 minutes.

As the top scorers in the early Championship table they will be confident of once more finding the net and, with four clean sheets in all competitions already this season, Pearce appears to have found a recipe for success.

The visitors have no new injury concerns to worry about, although Dexter Blackstock and Kelvin Wilson remain sidelined.

Wednesday currently sit two points behind Saturday's opponents, but they will be no less pleased with their start to the campaign.

The Owls struggled at the beginning of last term but, in their first full season under Stuart Gray, they have had no such trouble this time around.

Two victories and two draws have given them a very respectable eight points from their opening four matches, and their last league outing saw them claim an impressive 3-2 win at Middlesbrough - their first ever victory at the Riverside.

Gray may be slightly concerned that they almost let a three-goal lead slip, conceding two penalties to hand Boro a lifeline, but there were more positives than negatives to take from the result.

Near the top of that list of positives will be Stevie May's goal as the summer recruit opened his account for the club. He was ably assisted by Atdhe Nuhiu, who also scored twice himself to continue his own fine start to the season.

The Austrian striker made it four for the campaign in midweek as the Owls dumped Premier League side Burnley out of the League Cup, making it six matches unbeaten in all competitions this season.

Wednesday have since been handed a third-round match against holders Manchester City, but that is unlikely to take the focus away from their league form just yet.

One concern for Gray will be that his side have not yet won at home in the league, drawing both of their matches, and their winless league run at Hillsborough stretches back to six games now.

However, Kieran Lee remains the hosts' only injury concern, so Wednesday could name an unchanged side to the one that beat Middlesbrough last weekend.

Recent form

Sheff Weds: WWDDWW

Nottm Forest: WWDWWW

Possible starting lineups

Sheff Weds: Westwood; Palmer, Lees, Loovens, Mattock; Maguire, Coke, Semedo, Maghoma; Nuhiu, May

Nottm Forest: Darlow; Hunt, Mancienne, Fox, Harding; Burke, Cohen, Reid, Antonio; Fryatt, Assombalonga

Sports Mole says: 1-1


ID:173606: cacheID:173606:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:6515:No Data Analysis info

Previews by email

Click here to get Sports Mole's daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!


Restore Data
Share this article now:
Watford's Italian forward Fernando Forestieri shoots to score a goal during the English FA Cup fourth round football match between Manchester City and Watford at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on January 25, 2014
Read Next:
Championship Team of the Week
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leeds UnitedLeeds17105231121935
2Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1711422491535
3Burnley179622161533
4Sunderland1796226121433
5Watford179262624229
6Middlesbrough178362920927
7West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom176921811727
8Blackburn RoversBlackburn167452017325
9Millwall166641914524
10Norwich CityNorwich175753125622
11Swansea CitySwansea176471615122
12Bristol City175752021-122
13Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds176472026-622
14Stoke CityStoke175661920-121
15Derby CountyDerby175572122-120
16Luton TownLuton175391829-1118
17Coventry CityCoventry174582225-317
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd174581927-817
19Preston North EndPreston173861624-817
20Plymouth ArgylePlymouth174581834-1617
21Cardiff CityCardiff174491526-1116
22Hull City173681623-715
23Queens Park RangersQPR172871526-1114
24Portsmouth152671628-1212


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!