“No disrespect to that club..” Sheffield Wednesday defender Chey Dunkley 'not out to make friends' on return to Wigan Athletic

The centre-half left the Lancashire club on a free transfer in the summer of 2020 amid a meltdown of circumstances that had seen the Latics enter administration late on in the season and relegated to League One.

With their brightest on-field assets cashed-in, only a late season rally last time out kept them in a third tier they sit top of heading into their clash with Wednesday. The Owls’ journey to this point has been well publicised.

Speaking last week it was clear Dunkley still holds a great deal of affection for his former club but that he would be ‘all business’ when it came to trying to end Wednesday’s run of four league matches without a win.

Asked what he made of Wigan’s resurgence under new ownership, he said: “It’s brilliant. It’s in a better place and the assistant manager I had there Leam Richardson is now in charge and he’s done amazing job with everything he’s doing at the moment.

“It’s good for the club of course and the town.”

Another former Wigan man, striker Josh Windass, will miss out on the clash on his long route back from hamstring surgery. George Byers will miss out and captain Barry Bannan is touch and go in what could be a reshuffled side.

Dunkley came on as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Ipswich but could well be selected to start on Tuesday night.

“I don’t want to give them too much praise because they’re in our league,” Dunkley said. “I’ve got to move on and I’m all about Sheffield Wednesday. We want to win the league.

“It’s good that Wigan are in a good position and have started well. No disrespect to that club but I’ve got to focus on the club where I’m at at the moment and that’s Sheffield Wednesday.

“I have a lot of friends there. When I go down there it’s about focus. I’m not going there to make friends, I want to go down there and get a result.”