Match Preview: Sheff Wed v Sunderland - can the Lads bounce back after Saturday’s heavy defeat?

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Tuesday 2nd November 2021

(8th) Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland (5th)

Sky Bet League One

Hillsborough

Kick-Off: 19:45

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Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets are available online via SAFC here.

TV/Stream: Full live match coverage available via www.safc.com.

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.com!

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The build-up...

What a difference seven days makes. Just when we thought we were over the defeat down at Portsmouth after two away wins, reality bites hard and finds us on the losing side against Charlton and Rotherham.

We’ve only faced Wednesday three times at Hillsborough this century in league competition and won in 2000 and 2007, with a draw last time out in 2017.

It’s the first time we have suffered back-to-back defeats this season, and it will be interesting to see if Lee Johnson sticks with the system and personnel from recent games or decides to switch it up.

It may be tempting to ring the changes, especially after a 5-1 defeat but we still sit three points off the automatic spots with a game in hand and five off top spot with two games in hand - it’s a tough call ahead for Lee Johnson tonight in a bid to halt our run of defeats.

Photo by Will Matthews/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In direct contrast to Sunderland, Darren Moore’s side have become one of League One’s draw specialists. Where we have only one draw on the board so far this campaign, Wednesday have drawn seven, which is the joint-most in the division along with Gillingham and Cambridge United.

It has been ten years since Sheffield Wednesday were last in the third tier and although relegation from the Championship has hit the club hard, with Darren Moore at the helm they are still expected to challenge for at least a play-off place in May.

But as we have experienced under previous managers, it is the number of drawn games so far that has slowed progress, with the last four games seeing the points shared - and each one was decided with a goal in the last ten minutes of the game.

On the flip-side, they are unbeaten in the last five and a win would see them gain valuable ground on the top six.

Photo by Chris Vaughan - CameraSport via Getty Images

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League One Form...

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The betting...

Wednesday are 6/4 to take all three points on home soil tonight while an away win for the Lads is 15/8 and the draw is 11/5.

In terms of correct score, a 1-1 draw is favourite at 24/5, followed by a 1-0 home win at 7/1 and a 1-0 victory for the Lads at 15/2.

It’s close again for a more convincing 2-0 with Wednesday at 11/1 and Sunderland a touch longer at 12/1.

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Head to head...

(At Hillsborough in all competitions)

• Sunderland wins: 16
• Draws: 17
• Sheffield Wednesday wins: 29
• Sunderland goals: 71
• Sheffield Wednesday goals: 29

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Last time we met... at Hillsborough

Wednesday 16th August 2017

Sky Bet Championship

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Sunderland

(Jones 70’ - Honeyman 4’)

Sunderland: Steele, Jones, Browning, Kone, Galloway, Honeyman, Cattermole (Gibson) Ndong, McGeady (Khazri), Vaughan, Grabban (Gooch) Substitutes not used: Ruiter, Matthews, O’Shea, Asoro

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Hunt (Palmer), Reach, Jones, Lees, Pudil, Bannan, Wallace, Abdi (Fletcher), Hooper, Winnall (Rhodes) Substitutes not used: Wildsmith, Fox, Boyd, Matias

Attendance: 27,631

Photo by Richard Sellers/Getty Images

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Played for both...

Emerson Thome

The Brazilian came to UK from Benfica when he signed from Sheffield Wednesday in 1997. He spent two years at Hillsborough before Chelsea took him to the capital for around £3million.

Only a year later Peter Reid paid around £4million to bring him to the Stadium of Light after our first season of finishing 7th in the Premier League. He would suffer from injuries during his time at Sunderland and because we would have to pay Chelsea on his 50th appearance, he would be stuck on 49 until leaving for Bolton in 2003.

Chris Waddle

Waddle became one of the best players in the world in the years after leaving Newcastle for Spurs in 1985. He became the third most expensive player in the world when Marseille took him to France for £4.5million in 1989.

Sheffield Wednesday and Trevor Francis brought him back to England at the age of 32 for £1million in 1992. After four years he was released and after brief spells with Falkirk and Bradford City, joined Sunderland in our bid to survive relegation from the Premier League on deadline day 1997.

We would eventually go down but Waddle would leave us a free-kick during the final league game at Roker Park that nobody who were present will ever forget.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/EMPICS via Getty Images

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