Sheffield Wednesday: Fit-again Owls pair could feature in Swansea City FA Cup tie

Liam Palmer and Almen Abdi are in contention to play after recovering from their respective injuries. Right-back Palmer has sat-out the last three fixtures while Abdi has not featured since December 30.

Speaking at his press call today, boss Jos Luhukay: “Liam [Palmer] comes back into the team and, for the first time, Almen Abdi. He played 45 minutes two weeks ago for the Under-23s and 90 minutes last week.

“He has trained for a couple of weeks.

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“We think he is maybe match fit and physically strong enough to be an option.”

Sam Hutchinson and Joost van Aken have joined in two full training sessions but Luhukay believes the pair need to get some development matches under their belt before they can be considered for selection.

Luhukay said: “They have trained two times with the team but from training to the games you must also be game fit.

“The medical team have said they can train so we must now do the next step with Joost and Sam like what we have done in the last few weeks with Tom [Lees] and Almen.

“Maybe Tom is, in the next week, an option to come back into the first-team after a long time.

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“Tom and Abdi are close to the team and we must have a little bit of patience with Joost and Sam so that they have more training with us and maybe one or two games with the Under-23s.”

Fernando Forestieri was put through his paces by the Owls’ fitness team as he continues his rehabilitation from a major knee operation.

“The next situation for Fernando is he’s five months on from his surgery so we must now try to bring him every day and every week into a better physical shape,” said Luhukay. “In the next weeks, he will individually be training and maybe when everything is progressing good and positive he can maybe start training with the team in a couple of weeks.

“But I can’t give a date or exact time on when he will be available to play for us.”

Wednesday are still waiting to discover whether Ross Wallace will need surgery on his knee injury. The winger is due to see a specialist in London today.

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