Sideways Sammy

Coventry City may not be quite at the finish line yet but they are mightily close. If this was a game of cricket, the Sky Blues would be defending a lead of over 200, with one session left, bowling at the dregs of the batting line-up to pick up the last couple of wickets. It could happen today, it may take another week but you would have to be the gloomiest of pessimists to believe that the Championship’s tailend is going to cling on to deny the Sky Blues promotion.

Talking of tailenders, there probably isn’t a more tailend-y team in the division than Sheffield Wednesday. With just one win to their name all season, long since relegated and still sitting on negative points. a game against the Owls all but guarantees three points unless there’s some serious complacency in the ranks.

Expected Line-Up

Two back-to-back games so shortly after the international break was far from welcome as far as Frank Lampard was concerned, which has led to a fair degree of squad rotation over the Easter period. While there remain fitness concerns over one or two players, this is surely an occasion to name the strongest possible team to make absolutely sure Coventry City get over the line.

The key fitness concern looks to be surrounding Bobby Thomas, who missed Monday night’s game with a knock. Frank Lampard is confident that the centre-back will be fit for this game, but there is a chance that Joel Latibeaudiere and Liam Kitching will start in the centre of defence here, with the latter likeliest to drop out if Thomas passes a fitness test.

Elsewhere, Frank Onyeka and Haji Wright seem to be short of full fitness would probably be in line for a place on the bench if this wasn’t such an important game. Additionally, Jack Rudoni has yet to start since his recent knock and is probably 50/50 between either a place in the XI here or as a key substitute to break the game open, if needed, later on.

Last Time We Met

For all of Sheffield Wednesday’s woes this season, they haven’t really been losing games by wide margins, with Coventry City’s thrashing of them at Hillsborough back in October a rare occurrence. It began with an early goal bundled in from a corner by Brandon Thomas-Asante to break the game open. The forward struck again mid-way through the first-half, before Haji Wright ended the contest just before the break by tucking in a Bobby Thomas knock-back from a set-piece, albeit from an offside position.

The Sky Blues were in cruise control for the second-half against a deflated Wednesday outfit. Kaine Kesler-Hayden teed Ellis Simms up for a tap-in to make it four, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto finishing the rout with 15 minutes left, firing home powerfully after the home side failed to clear a set-piece. It was an absolutely ruthless display that demonstrated Coventry City’s prowess from pressing and set-plays in the opening months of the campaign.

The Opposition

The Manager – Henrik Pedersen

Handed the ultimate of hospital passes this season, stepping into a Sheffield Wednesday in meltdown and having to stitch together a team of youngsters and cast-offs, there are question marks nonetheless as to whether Henrik Pedersen is underperforming even in those trying circumstances. While Wednesday aren’t being hammered week in and week out, that they have barely got close to winning games has been demoralising.

Coming through the Red Bull school of coaching, Pedersen, in theory, is someone who wants his teams to come out and press opponents. However, with such limited resources this season, the focus has been on containment. The main criticism of the Dane has been the approach has been overly cautious and led to some truly dull games with little hope of scoring goals.

Who To Look Out For?

Sheffield Wednesday have just about been able to retain a competitive starting XI despite their transfer embargo and lack of money this season, the problem has tended to be among the players the completely raw academy players the team has to bring off the bench.

Wednesday’s competitiveness has improved recently thanks to the return to fitness of youngster, Pierce Charles, in goal. The Northern Ireland international is a fantastic shot-stopper despite his short stature and is also excellent on the ball, to the extent that he’ll probably be snapped up by a top Championship side looking to control games in possession in the summer – if not, possibly as a back-up player at Premier League level. Charles’ injury issues this season may have been a blessing in disguise, saving the youngster from any knocks to his confidence that a season of letting goals in would otherwise have had.

In front of Pierce Charles, the Owls have a trio of physical defenders which can help block shots and keep games tight. Dominic Iorfa is someone who would be playing at a stronger team at this level were his ability to avoid injury better than it is, while Max Lowe has done a good job tailoring his game to operate at left centre-back in a back three, having previously been an attacking left-back. Youngster, Gabriel Otegbayo, makes up the back three, with the vastly experienced Liam Palmer helping keep things tight at right wing-back.

Further forward, Jerry Yates has been a decent loan addition in January as someone to run the channels and nick the odd goal, taking the scoring pressure away from Jamal Lowe. Charlie McNeill is another forward who has chipped in this season, while Jaden Heskey has threatened to supply some quality in midifeld in his first loan spell away from Manchester City, without quite finding an end product yet.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Sheffield Wednesday have the ability to make this a tough contest the longer it remains goalless. With a physical back-line and a strong shot-stopper in goal, they can frustrate, and they are starting to show they can nick the odd goal either on the break or through set-pieces. It is up to Coventry City to look to control the game, limit Wednesday’s opportunities on the counter and perservere if shots get saved or blocked.

Finding some ingenuity in the final third is the key area where the Sky Blues can blast this game open. With Josh Eccles and Victor Torp both having struggled in the number ten role in Jack Rudoni’s absence, there will surely be a temptation to start Rudoni from the off here to try and force an early goal or two that can take any sting out of the contest. If not Rudoni, then Ephron Mason-Clark’s ability to muscle past defenders or Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s crossing are going to be the key routes to goal for the Sky Blues.

At the other end, it’s up to that hub of Matt Grimes and the two centre-backs to manage Sheffield Wednesday’s counter-attacking threat. With the Owls tending not to play with wingers, Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva can probably risk pushing forward to support the attacking side of the game, while Bobby Thomas’ return to the team should provide some physicality to help snuff out the threat of Jerry Yates.