Preview: Sheffield Wednesday v Wolves – Up for the cup?

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers previews the Hillsborough tie.

Preamble

Wolves thoroughly enjoyed the EFL Cup last season – and they certainly have the squad depth to do so again in 2018/19.

It’ll be low down the list of priorities, as it was during their Championship campaign, but try telling the likes of Adama Traore, Leo Bonatini, Danny Batth and Morgan Gibbs-White that the trip to Hillsborough carries little importance.

Traore could make his first start for the club, Bonatini will be extremely keen to end an eight-month goal drought (23 hours and six minutes on the pitch), club captain Batth will be desperate to feature having been redundant so far this season and Gibbs-White would make just his sixth senior start.

Throw in the prospect of Leander Dendoncker possibly making his Wolves debut and John Ruddy, Romain Saiss, Kortney Hause and Ruben Vinagre – all on the fringes of the first team who could be called upon in the Premier League at any time – getting much-needed game time under their belts and you’ve got a few reasons why this game means something.

That’s if Nuno makes wholesale changes, which you’d predict he will after doing so last season.

A trip to face tricky Championship opposition in Wednesday, who’ve won two on the bounce to recover from a slow start, isn’t ideal in terms of difficulty, but Nuno will expect his team to progress whichever XI he puts out.

What's also important is to get that first win of the season on the board. A winning mentality goes a long way, as Wolves proved last year.

The opposition

Just two years ago Sheffield Wednesday were one win away from the Premier League.

That year they lost in the play-off final to Hull City. Then in 2017 they agonisingly missed out again, this time in the semi-finals to Huddersfield Town.

Skip forward to summer 2018 and the Owls are paying dearly for falling at those final hurdles.

Previous boss Carlos Carvalhal inspired those top-six finishes but, crippled by an insurmountable injury list, couldn;t repeat the feat last season and left Hillsborough by mutual consent.

His unknown replacement Jos Luhukay, guided Wednesday to 15th in May but hopes of becoming promotion contenders again this year were dealt a huge blow with the club placed under a transfer embargo for almost the entire transfer window.

That’s now been lifted, meaning loan signings can be made before Friday’s deadline, but no senior players have yet joined the club.

It’s a depressing picture, but with only three players leaving this summer (Jack Hunt and Ross Wallace, plus Jordan Rhodes on loan to Norwich) Luhukay still has plenty of quality in his ranks.

Fernando Forestieri, Lucas Joao, George Boyd, Steven Fletcher, Adam Reach and Barry Bannan are all proven talents at Championship level.

Whether they have enough to keep pace is questionable, but the Owls have at least put a smile on the faces of their long-suffering fans with successive home wins in the past week, beating Millwall and Ipswich by the same 2-1 scoreline to recover from a one-point haul from their opening three games.

Team news

The Owls, who lie 14th in the Championship table after five matches, made seven changes for their 2-0 win at Sunderland in the first round so Luhukay is expected to do something similar tonight.

Forestieri, Fletcher and Sam Hutchinson were on the bench on Saturday so could all be drafted into the XI.

Wolves' only injury absentee in Ivan Cavaleiro who is out with a back problem.

Jonny Castro Otto came off with cramp towards the end of the Man City game.

Likely line ups

Sheff Wed (4-2-3-1): Wildsmith; Nielsen, Lees, Penney, Palmer; Hunt, Bannan; Forestieri, Matias, Reach; Fletcher.

Wolves (3-4-3): Ruddy; Batth, Saiss, Hause; Rasmussen, Dendoncker, Gibbs-White, Vinagre; Enobakhare, Bonatini, Traore. Sub: Norris, John, Giles, Goncalves, Watt, Ennis, Ashley-Seal.

Key players

Sheff Wed – Fernando Forestieri

Left on the bench for the past two matches but his performances have earned praise from Luhukay who said the tricky Italian is working more for the team and less for himself. Has given Wolves plenty of problems in the past including when he scored twice in a 4-1 win in 2015.

Wolves – Morgan Gibbs-White

The youngster impressed in pre-season and Nuno has had enough confidence in the 18-year-old to bring him off the bench in two of Wolves' three Premier League games. Gibbs-White's ability to inject tempo, energy and positivity will be important on a night like this when motivation can be low and the crowd quiet.

The bosses

Jos Luhukay: "We are now heading into our third home game in a week at home, it will be a tough game and a tough challenge for us. When you have won back to back games, things always seem more positive."

Nuno Espirito Santo: "We want to create a team and build something that is able to adapt. Don't change, create an identity, and identity is going to be for every Wolves player, every Wolves coach and every Wolves fan."

Form

Sheffield Wednesday WWLWD

Aug 25, 2-1 v Ipswich (h)

Aug 22, 2-1 v Millwall (h)

Aug 19, 0-2 v Brentford (a)

Aug 16, 2-0 v Sunderland (a) *Carabao Cup

Aug 11, 1-1 v Hull (h)

Wolves DLDWL

Aug 25, 1-1 v Man City (h)

Aug 18, 0-2 v Leicester (a)

Aug 11, 2-2 v Everton (h)

Aug 4, 2-1 v Villarreal (h) *pre-season

July 28, 1-2 v Derby (a) *pre-season

Past five meetings

April 28, 2018 (Ch): Wolves 0 Sheff Wed 0

Dec 15, 2017 (Ch): Sheff Wed 0 Wolves 1 (Neves, 34)

Jan 2, 2017 (Ch): Sheff Wed 0 Wolves 0

Nov 26, 2017 (Ch): Wolves 0 Sheff Wed 2 (Forestieri pen 15, Lee 29)

May 7, 2016 (Ch): Wolves 2 (Turner OG 7, Saville 35) Sheff Wed 1 (McGugan pen 90)

Referee

Robert Jones (Merseyside)

Was predominantly a lower-league ref before making the step up to the Championship midway through last year, taking charge of Wolves' 1-1 draw at Preston where he sent off John Welsh for the hosts.

Has shown 11 yellows in four games this season.

Match odds

Sheff Wed 29/10, draw 11/4, Wolves 4/5