Sheffield Wednesday take on Watford at Vicarage Road in the Championship on Saturday in their first game under new manager Danny Rohl.
The Owls endured their worst start to a season in their history, picking up just two points from their first 10 league games, resulting in the sacking of Xisco Munoz earlier this month.
Neil Thompson took charge of the 0-0 draw against Huddersfield Town at Hillsborough prior to the international break, but Wednesday are still searching for their first win of the season.
Former RB Leipzig, Southampton, Bayern Munich and German national team coach Rohl was named as the new Wednesday manager last week, and it is a tough task for the 34-year-old in his first managerial role.
The Owls currently sit bottom of the table, and they are already seven points from safety ahead of the game against 20th-placed Watford.
As the countdown to kick off continues, we rounded up all the latest Wednesday team news.
What is the latest Sheffield Wednesday team news?
Wednesday captain Barry Bannan has missed the last three games through injury, but the Scotsman will be available for the game against Watford, much to the delight of Rohl.
“Barry has trained very well this week. He has shown his quality. He is an important player for us… I am happy that he is back. It is a good sign. He has trained very well this week,” Rohl told The Star.
Forward Josh Windass has also been sidelined for the previous three matches, but the 29-year-old confirmed he will be fit to face the Hornets, and hit back at speculation he refused to play towards the end of Munoz’s reign.
“I’m right and ready,” Windass told The Star. “One thing I wanted to mention – that I saw online – was people saying that me and Baz weren’t playing because of the manager… I don’t really comment on social media, but I was disappointed that people thought that us two as senior pros who give everything for the club would ever just not play a game because the manager is under pressure. It was utter nonsense – it annoyed me for a couple of weeks… The fans are incredible, but yeah, seeing that was disappointing.”
Winger Marvin Johnson is yet to feature this season after being frozen out under Munoz, but the 32-year-old has returned to training following the Spaniard’s departure.
Johnson, who scored three goals and provided 14 assists to help the Owls to promotion last season, was left out of the club’s 25-man squad list, and while he will not be involved against Watford as Rohl continues to assess him, the German has no doubt of his quality.
“I had a good conversation with Marvin,” Rohl told The Star. “We spoke about what I expect from him on and off the pitch. It’s very important for me.
“It’s important to look forward and not look back, and it’s the reason why we took him for part of the training. Now we’ll look to the data, step by step, if the data is alright then we’ll bring him back into the squad and training. Then it’s about his performances in training if he’s in the squad or not…
“It was important that I had a talk with Marvin about his situation. Now we’ll look at the data and when he’s ready to come back we’ll take him. Maybe the next step for him is to train on Sunday in the recovery session with the other players who don’t play. Then we’ll have a look during the next week… I’m convinced about his quality. I’ve heard a lot of good things from him and we’ll keep going.”
Wednesday will be without winger Juan Delgado due to a hip injury, while midfielder Momo Diaby remains sidelined with a foot injury.
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