Major boost for Sheffield Wednesday as defensive woes look a little brighter

The Owls face Bournemouth tomorrow night, and for the first time in over a month, the Wednesday boss should be able to hand a starting berth to both Tom Lees and Dominic Iorfa.

Monk and his side enjoyed a promising start to the season with some good results against some of the top sides in the division, however a defensive crisis coincided with a drop in performances and they now find themselves looking back at four consecutive defeats.

While key players such as Massimo Luongo (knee injury), Joost van Aken (one more game suspension) and Aden Flint (hamstring) are still set to miss this week’s game against Bournemouth, Iorfa and Lees could both start – as could attacking midfielder, Izzy Brown, following his second half appearance at the weekend.

Iorfa came back into the side against Wycombe Wanderers over the weekend after about a month on the sidelines, and though the result went against them, the centre back put in a solid personal showing and looks to have made it through 90 minutes unscathed.

‘Big Dom’ and Lees – who was sent off in the loss to Rotherham United – are now both available for selection against the Cherries tomorrow, and all three of (what appears to be) Monk’s first choice centre backs this season will be available for the weekend’s game against Millwall.

It will come as a welcome boost for Monk as a new month gets underway for the Owls, and he’ll also be hoping that the upcoming international break will allow his ranks to get back to full fitness so that the likes of Luongo, Flint, Osaze Urhoghide, Chey Dunkley and Liam Shaw can all get their names in the hat as well.

It remains to be seen how many changes Monk will make from the side that was defeated at Adams Park, but you’d expect that Brown and Lees will certainly be putting their hands up for a spot in the starting XI following their respective absences.

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