Sheffield Wednesday will be striving to do two things for the first time in 23 years vs Peterborough
Five pre-match talking points ahead of Sheffield Wednesday’s trip to Peterborough United on Saturday.
Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to continue their strong start to the 2026/27 League One campaign when they take on Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium this lunchtime.
The Owls, who are without an away win over Peterborough since August 2003, secured back-to-back league wins for the first time this season in midweek, coming from behind to beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at Adams Park.
That three-point haul, coupled with results elsewhere, was enough to move Wednesday into the automatic promotion places for the first time this season. They will travel to Cambridgeshire sitting second in the table.
Ahead of their tussle with Luke Williams’ side, here are five pre-match talking points:
Who replaces Barry?
After scoring twice against Bromley last weekend and putting Wednesday back on level terms against Wycombe with only 11 minutes played at Adams Park on Tuesday evening, Louie Barry was starting to showcase exactly why Wednesday had brought him to Hillsborough during the summer.
Unfortunately for the former Aston Villa man, his evening came to an end just five minutes later when he appeared to roll his ankle on the artificial surface laid just inches from the touchline. He now faces up to three months on the sidelines with ankle ligament damage.
Fortunately for Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen, he has enough attacking options available to him to fill the void Barry has vacated. Kieran Morrison, who arrived on loan from Liverpool last month, replaced Barry against Wycombe, meaning he could come into the team to make his first league start of the season.
If he is called upon, it is possible that he will start on the right flank, allowing the in-form Jamal Lowe to move to the left. The latter has played on the left flank at various stages throughout his career.
Harry Gray has also played on the left for Wednesday this season, but he will miss the trip to Peterborough due to concussion protocol after being forced off in the 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last week.
Chasing another away win
Winning nine points from the first 12 on offer represents an excellent start to the season for this new-look Wednesday team. After blowing Bromley away last Saturday, they were forced to roll up their sleeves and deliver a very different kind of victory against Wycombe.
Having shown two sides to themselves over the past week, the Owls will be determined to use the confidence generated by those two victories to try to secure a third consecutive league win for the first time since their final three games of the 2023/24 campaign.
The win at Wycombe preserved the Owls’ 100 per cent away record, following their 2-1 victory at Leyton Orient last month. That marked the first time since 2014/15 that they had won their opening two away league games.
However, you have to go back to the start of the 2003/04 campaign for the last time Wednesday won their first three away league games. That excellent start on the road featured wins over Swindon Town (3-2), Peterborough (1-0) and Wycombe (2-1).
Having made an excellent start on the road 23 years ago, the Owls will be hoping that clashes with Wycombe and Peterborough in two of their opening three away games this season will serve as a good omen once again.
Davis Keillor-Dunn
Waking up on deadline day morning, it was widely understood that Wednesday’s squad rebuild would conclude with the loan signing of Jaden Heskey. However, an unexpected window of opportunity opened up late in the day for the Owls to sign Davis Keillor-Dunn on loan from Wrexham, and they pounced.
Although supporters faced an anxious wait to find out whether the deal had been finalised, the Owls eventually eased any fears by confirming the attacker’s arrival almost 48 hours after the window had closed. The 28-year-old brings goals and creativity to Hillsborough, further strengthening Pedersen’s attacking options.
Available for the clash with Peterborough, it remains to be seen whether he will be thrown straight into the starting line-up or introduced from the bench. Either way, Wednesdayites will be itching to catch their first glimpse of the club’s 18th and final signing of an extraordinary transfer window.
Peterborough memories
Mention Wednesday and Peterborough in the same sentence, and your mind immediately goes running back to May 2023. The reason for that, of course, is that the Owls produced the greatest play-off semi-final comeback of all time against the Cambridgeshire outfit.
After losing the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final 4-0 at the Weston Homes Stadium, Wednesday’s promotion dream was in tatters. However, the Owls produced one of the greatest comebacks in the history of English football, winning the second leg 5-1 at Hillsborough before prevailing on penalties to reach the play-off final at Wembley and eventually earn promotion.
For almost every Wednesdayite, it was the greatest night they had ever witnessed while following this club. It was a surreal experience to be at Hillsborough that evening.
Travelling to the Weston Homes Stadium, though, will inevitably trigger unwanted memories of their last visit — that 4-0 defeat in the first leg of their semi-final showdown. Almost everyone associated with the Owls wanted the ground to swallow them up that evening.
Peterborough’s start
Posh have experienced an indifferent start to the campaign, winning one, drawing one and losing two of their first four League One outings. After being thrashed 4-0 by Blackpool at Bloomfield Road last weekend, they drew 0-0 with Stevenage on home soil in midweek but failed to register a single shot on target.
Despite failing to hit the target against Stevenage, they are unbeaten in their opening two home games this season, picking up four points after beating Mansfield Town 2-1 in their first home league game of the season.
That victory over Mansfield, however, was their first on home soil since beating Rotherham United on March 17, meaning they have won just one of their last seven home matches. With Wednesday having been winless at the Weston Homes Stadium for 23 years and failing to win any of their last six visits, they might never get a better opportunity to bury that particular hoodoo.