Why Sheffield Wednesday duo were left out completely against West Brom

Ihiekwe’s absence was no real surprise given that he’s fallen completely out of favour under Xisco at Hillsborough, with the experienced central defender not having made the matchday squad since the game against Ipswich Town last month.

But with Diaby having started the last three Championship games there were question marks over his absence on the night, especially considering there wasn’t a single centre back on the bench.

As it turns out, that was by design. Diaby’s absence was forced after he collided with Akin Famewo on Friday night, but the Owls boss says that he wanted to get more attacking players on the bench.

He told the media, “The other day Bambo had concussion from the Sunderland game, so he’s following the protocol and needs to sit out for seven days. It was from the collision with Akin…

“With Icky I’m very happy with him, he’s working very well, but for this game I tried to put more attacking players on the list - with Mallik, with Gassama etc. If we need to score we try to put more and create more difficult situations in the last minutes. So we had more attacking players on the bench.”

Whether Diaby is given the green light to make the squad on Saturday when Huddersfield Town visit Hillsborough remains to be seen – for Ihiekwe it’s just a matter of trying to prove to his manager that he deserves a return to action.

That game is set for 3pm on Saturday.