Sheffield Wednesday: Fernando Forestieri determined to fight for his Owls place

The talented forward stepped up off the bench to notch his first goal of the season in Saturday's draw with promotion-chasing Swansea City.

Forestieri, who served a six-match Football Association suspension earlier this season, has yet to start under manager Garry Monk, coming four times off the bench.

"I am training hard every day; I am happy when I am in the squad but I am happier when I play," he told The Star.

"I respect the new coach. He knows what he is doing. I just need to keep going and try to help the team.

"I have a lot of friends in the team and I want the team to win and that is the most important thing.

"It is not about one player. We all need to push in the same way to try and do something important for the club."

The 29-year-old has featured on eight occasions during the 2019/20 season but his solitary Championship start came against Queens Park Rangers in August.

Forestieri said: "I am hungry. I had my six game ban and since then the team have played well so I had to wait for my chance.

"I can't change what happened in the past. I just need to prove I can play for Wednesday."

The Owls have dropped seven points from winning positions in their last five matches to fall out of the play-off positions.

Forestieri said: "We have lost too many points. We need to improve our concentration and focus. We should have picked up six points from the last two games.

"We have the break now and after the break we will come back and think about WBA. We have to go game by game and improve what the manager wants. We have a good group and we have to keep our focus."