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Sheffield Wednesday’s final home game of the season sees Darren Moore’s side host Nottingham Forest, with three points compulsory as they look to take the fight to the final day and achieve a miraculous survival.
A Forest win would send Wednesday down in to England’s third tier, for the first time since 2011/12. However, depending on Derby’s result away at Swansea later on at 3pm, even a draw could still see the Owls live to fight another day in the Championship.
Originally scheduled to be a 3pm kick-off, Wednesday’s start has been moved forward to 12.30pm, allowing football fans from across the country to have both eyes on each game.
Tom Lees won’t feature for the remaining two games after picking up a season-ending injury last week in a visit to Middlesbrough, whilst defensive pair Chey Dunkley and Joost van Aken are both in contention to make an appearance.
Massimo Luongo recently returned to the training pitch but is unlikely to be involved on Saturday. After such a lengthy spell on the sidelines, a return for the Australian is more likely to come at the start of next season.
Jamie Smith, the Owls’ stand-in boss as Darren Moore continues his recovery from coronavirus, says this game is the biggest his side have faced for a long time.
“There’s a little bit of every emotion. It’s a big game for us, but one we’re looking forward to. It’s the biggest game for a long time, we have to go out and win and we’ll be doing our best to do that.”
The 46-year-old wasn’t concerned about the change of kick-off times, insisting they’ll be focusing on themselves and no one else.
“We can’t focus on anybody else, we’ll be focusing on ourselves. It’s the same as any game. We prepare to go and win and it’s no different tomorrow.”
Forest will be looking to end their final away game of the season on a high, in what has been a turbulent campaign for Chris Hughton’s Reds from start to finish.
Luke Freeman won’t be available for selection after picking up an injury against Stoke last weekend, and it’s likely he’ll also miss the final game of the season at home to Preston North End.
Both Gaetan Bong and Sammy Ameobi are back in training, but the gaffer didn’t fancy taking the risk with his side’s Championship status for next year already secured.
“Gaetan Bong is back training and Sammy hasn’t been able to train. If we were prepared to take a touch of a risk, he would have been training today and been available for Saturday. But the fact that he is still feeling it to a degree, we weren’t prepared to take that risk which would certainly put him out of the last game.”
The size of this game cannot be underestimated, and it’s fair to say that football fans across England will have their attention glued to the TV screen from 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.
