Danny Röhl explains worry over Di'Shon Bernard's Sheffield Wednesday spot amid injury woe

Danny Röhl has some big decisions to ponder over the make-up of his Sheffield Wednesday defence ahead of this weekend’s Championship welcoming of Queens Park Rangers after the Owls boss revealed something of an unavailability pile-up.

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Michael Ihiekwe is carrying a fresh concern out of the international break, while Dominic Iorfa remains a doubt having missed their last match at Millwall. It left Röhl inviting reporters to count the number of centre-halves openly available to the side, with Di’Shon Bernard also considered a ‘question mark’ despite him not carrying an injury.

Along with Wednesday forward Jamal Lowe, Bernard has been on international duty, with both coming off the bench in their 2-1 Nations League success in Honduras on Wednesday morning. The match kicked off at 3am UK time, leaving serious concerns as to the condition of the pair given the time difference, time required to travel back across the Atlantic and its close proximity to the QPR match.

In March, Bernard returned from international duty in the Caribbean only to fall injured in the warm-up of their 1-1 draw with Swansea City and missed several weeks of their survival mission. Despite the potential absences of both Ihiekwe and Iorfa, Röhl will give careful consideration to leaving the 23-year-old out of the starting line-up so as to guard against any repeat. It would leave Akin Famewo as the only recognised centre-half in the squad as Wednesday look to breakout from a run of three consecutive Championship defeats.

“The question mark is when he has been 10 days away with the national team and he travels 14 hours back and arrive very late,” Röhl said on Bernard. “There is a question mark. We are not really knowing where he is, what has been his load, we are looking for the data to give us a feel. The last time in March when he arrived from the international break to us, he got an injury and was out for six games. This is the reason why he is a question mark for me.”

Asked whether the same logic applied on Lowe, the Wednesday boss said: “Of course. When you come very late back as an international player then it is always a question mark. We have the cup game again and then we have the next game. I also have to look at the bodies, the mindset and how the performances were in the last games. All these things I take. The group that stayed here worked really hard and showed a lot of good things, let's see.”