Barry Bannan walking the Sheffield Wednesday tightrope - could miss Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle

Owls boss Danny Röhl said that 'everybody knows' just how important the next three fixtures are for the club as they seek to claw back ground on the four-point deficit on the safety places. A trip to bottom-placed Rotherham United follows the Robins clash before Plymouth Argyle make the long trip to Hillsborough next Tuesday. Tough clashes with automatic promotion-chasing pair Leeds United and Ipswich Town will take Wednesday into the international break.

Having accrued nine cautions across the course of the Championship season, club captain Bannan faces the possibility of missing two matches if he is to receive a yellow card before the break. A tally of 10 yellows before the Championship 'amnesty' point of 37 matches sees a two-match ban doled out with no opportunity to appeal.

Wednesday have played 33 league matches, meaning the Scot will have to be careful in the next weeks to avoid threat of missing out on action. After 37 matches the sanction is reset, with a tally of 15 cautions before the season end the new number to avoid before the end of the regular season.

Röhl admitted after taking Bannan off late on in their win at Millwall over the weekend that it was partly because he was wary of the possibility of a suspension to his key player and suggested the situation would be monitored as the matches go by. The only other Wednesday player is reasonable chance of falling foul of the suspension is Di'Shon Bernard, who is on seven yellow cards.