Sheffield Wednesday key man Dominic Iorfa sent for scan amid Owls injury struggles

The Owls have lined up with Marvin Johnson and Liam Palmer either side of Chey Dunkley in a back three in recent matches, a combination that impressed in a 3-0 shutout of fellow promotion chasers Sunderland on Tuesday evening.

It had been suggested that Iorfa was aiming for a return to action for the Mackems clash but it seems he may sit out a little longer than first expected depending on the results of a scan on an undisclosed muscle injury.

“We’ll see how he goes over the next couple of days,” said Moore. “It’s too early for me to say on him and we’re just doing some checks on him at the moment.

“We have to make sure off the back of those checks that if we are to bring him back in, we’re not bringing him back in to see him miss more time so we’re being careful with it at the moment.”

Sam Hutchinson and Lewis Gibson aren’t expected to make an imminent return, although Hutchinson appeared to be walking freely when spotted at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening.

Midfielders George Byers and Massimo Luongo stepped out in the under-23s defeat at Sheffield United on Monday as they begin to step up their recovery. Speaking last month the Owls boss had said he expects the pair – and forward Josh Windass – to return before Christmas.

But Wednesday’s next match-up – an FA Cup clash with Plymouth Argyle on Sunday afternoon – is unlikely to see any players return to action.

“We’ll have a look at one or two, but I don’t envisage anybody being back for the next game,” Moore said.

“I was delighted for them [Byers and Luongo]. What we need is players back and we don’t want to lose players. Those two got a good 45 match minutes into them and they looked good.

“It’s about those two getting volume to their training now. Hopefully they’ll come through that unscathed and we’ll get them back into action.”