Sheffield Wednesday are in desperate need of a win to stop themselves getting cut adrift at the foot of the Championship, but they face a Coventry City side that have not lost since a defeat at Watford at the start of November.
Wednesday have picked up just three points in eight games since the appointment of Tony Pulis, with three draws and five defeats in that run. His predecessor, Garry Monk, had picked up four points from his last two games before losing his job after a goalless draw against Millwall.
Coventry meanwhile, despite their unbeaten run, are only six points above the relegation zone, with five of their eight games unbeaten having been draws.
Both sides featured in midweek, with Mark Robins’ side drawing 0-0 against Huddersfield Town while Wednesday fell to a 2-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest.
That result means Pulis’ side are now seven points adrift of Forest who occupy the spot above the relegation zone. If not for their six-point deduction they would be just one point behind, but now Wednesday are left with a gap which is only increasing at the moment.
Scoring goals has been a problem for the South Yorkshire side, having only scored more than one goal in a game once all season, that was on the opening day, they have also been blanked ten times by their opponents.
Coventry have not been free scoring either, and have only scored more than one goal in a game on four occasions this season. But the Sky Blues have scored 20 goals in their 19 games so far, double the number scored by Saturday’s opponents.
Matt Godden is the highest goalscorer on either team going into Saturday’s game with four goals to his name in the league so far this season. Teammates Gustavo Hamer and Tyler Walker are both just behind on three goals, level with Wednesday’s top goalscorer, Josh Windass.
Despite most of the stats suggesting a low scoring game, Coventry do have the joint third worst defensive record in the league so far, having conceded 27 goals in 19 games.
The Sky Blues have kept five clean sheets this season, which is one less than Sheffield Wednesday, but The Owls have only kept one since the appointment of Tony Pulis.
The two sides have not faced each other since the 2009-10 season, with the last meeting being a 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena. The last meeting at Hillsborough finished 2-0 to Wednesday, with Darren Purse and Leon Clarke getting the goals.
Overall, it is Coventry City who have the edge from the 82 previous meetings between the sides with 31 wins, compared to Wednesday’s 28, with 23 games finishing level.
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