Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday Preview

Posted on | December 5, 2008 | No Comments

Sheffield Wednesday are another team who have surprised people this season with the Owls going against their normal trait of fighting the drop. They’re currently sat in 12^th position – seven places and seven points above Saturday’s struggling opponents Southampton.

Even though Southampton are still in a relegation scrap, it’s clear that progress has been made over the last few weeks with Saints moving four points clear from the drop zone. Some would say they were unlucky to lose 2-1 at home to Wolves but since then, they’ve managed to win one and draw two of their three games. An away 2-1 victory over Reading was the pick of the bunch yet while Jan Poortvliet’s men struggled for consistency in the opening months of the season, they built on that with goalless draws against Plymouth and Charlton. There’s no doubt that at the back they were leaking goals left, right and centre in the early days yet those recent results suggest Poortvliet is sorting them out and the future is looking brighter.

As for Wednesday, they’ve also been rewarded with some good results over recent weeks. They went through something of a sticky patch not too long ago but back-to-back wins against Blackpool and Norwich has relieved pressure from the Owls and they now sit in a safe mid-table position. Brian Laws has just been rewarded with a new contract and should he be able to keep the Hillsborough side in this position, he really will have worked miracles. He’s had to work on a shoestring budget and with the club now impressively eleven points away from the drop zone and only three points from the play offs, fans must be incredibly happy with the progress that Laws is making.

Southampton welcome back two players for this fixture, with Jason Euell completing his three game ban and youngster Oliver Lancashire recovering from a knee injury that’s kept him out for the last few weeks. Other than that there is nothing to report for Saints, so Jan Poortvliet has a strong squad coming into this one. As for the visitors, they’ve also been handed some good news. Frankie Simek could make a long awaited start after being out for almost twelve months with a serious knee injury. Elsewhere, Tommy Spurr and Wade Small are in contention, although Brian Laws has been handed a blow with the news that winger Jermaine Johnson won’t play again this year after injuring his knee.

Both of these teams are in good form at the moment yet we think Southampton could take all the points here. While Wednesday have recorded some good wins recently, their form on the road is not brilliant and we think Southampton will capitalize. Saints are looking more solid by the week and this will be a close, but professional victory – home win, 1-0.

Related posts:

1. Southampton v Sheffield United Preview
2. Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday Preview
3. Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United Preview
4. Sheffield Wednesday v Doncaster Preview
5. Doncaster v Sheffield Wednesday Preview

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