Seven Owls talking points ahead of the weekend...

Sheffield Wednesday’s much-anticipated home clash against Stockport County is edging closer.

For a fourth successive league game, more than 30,000 fans are expected inside Hillsborough on Saturday for a fixture between two teams fancied to be promotion rivals this season.

There are a number of intriguing talking points ahead of the fixture. Let’s take a look at what they are...

BIGGEST TEST YET

Even at this early stage of the season, this feels like a big game, in front of another 30,000 crowd. Both sides are expected to challenge for promotion so Saturday presents an opportunity to get a good look at each other and land the first blow. When the fixtures came out, this was one that most people looked at and thought it would be Wednesday’s biggest test to date. No disrespect to Bradford City, but Stockport have been knocking on the door of the Championship for a couple of years now, losing last season’s play-off final to Bolton, so this will be a decent gauge of where The Owls are at.

INJURY NIGGLES

We’ll be speaking to Henrik Pedersen on Friday afternoon where he will be asked about injuries. Yan Valery was forced off against Wigan Athletic with a knee injury and Ricardo Santos came off in the same game with cramp. Others like Liam Cooper and Billy Mitchell continue to be managed. It is not thought that Wednesday will welcome back anyone else from the treatment room. Sil Swinkels (hamstring) appears to be the closest player to returning.

WHO MISSES OUT?

The Owls have six loan players but are only allowed to name five in a matchday squad. Jaden Heskey was the one to miss out against Wigan, Pedersen explaining that he wanted more attacking players on the bench and that they had the option of dropping Callum Slattery into central midfield if needed. It will be interesting to see if Pedersen takes the same approach with it being another home game or whether he sees it differently.

GOALS GOALS GOALS

This contest is likely to produce goals at both ends. Wednesday are top of the league and smashed seven past Bromley, but failed to score against Bradford and Wigan. Ninth-placed Stockport are the top scorers in the division with 16, including firing in three at Plymouth Argyle in an opening day win and four at Wigan two weeks ago. However, they have conceded 10 times, including four at home to Leicester City last time out. Fourth from bottom Peterborough United have let in the same number. On paper, if Wednesday can defend properly, this could be a good game for them against an opponent who will come and have a go and possibly leave space to attack.

THE BANNAN DEBATE

Barry Bannan had one of his quieter afternoons in a Wednesday shirt against Wigan, whose smothering and stifling game-plan for the Scot worked from their point of view. Stockport, no doubt, will have looked at that and might plot something similar. So it will be up to Pedersen, Bannan and his team-mates to find a solution to free him up so he can pull the strings.

WHO PLAYS ON THE LEFT?

Callum Slattery played off the left flank against the Latics but it didn’t really work and he was withdrawn on the hour. Harry Gray started the season brightly down that side before suffering an injury, but he is back now. Jamal Lowe can also play there but surely you would want your top scorer down the middle. And Davis Keillor-Dunn can play across all those attacking positions and is another contender.

SPEED BOAT

Pedersen’s main message after the Wigan draw was that they needed to move the ball quicker to break opposition teams down at Hillsborough. He said he was looking forward to having a full week on the training ground to work on this skill. Wednesday have made fast starts at home but have lost their way in second-halves against Bradford and Wigan after failing to find an early breakthrough.