Sheffield Wednesday: Sam Hutchinson struggling to be fit for Burton Albion clash

The influential midfielder lasted 33 minutes of Saturday’s emphatic 5-1 win over Norwich City before coming off, having struggled with injury in the week previous.

Owls head coach Carlos Carvalhal admitted a slight risk was taken in starting Hutchinson and though he doesn’t know the full extent of the complaint, the Burton match could come too early.

“Sam played with pain (against Norwich),” said Carvalhal.

“We protected him on Wednesday, on Thursday he didn’t train so (on Friday) we prepared and we knew that this (coming off) can happen because he is playing with pain. We took a bit of a risk, we know he can play and support the pain - he played at his limit we don’t think he aggravated the problem, but we don’t know if he will recover (soon).

“You never know with Sam.

“Sam is a special player, he plays all the time with pain and we never know if he’ll recover in two days or four days or five days but we have good expectations of short to medium time.”

Almen Abdi was also missing on Saturday, with Carvalhal revealing the midfielder had suffered a knee injury.

“He had a scan and didn’t train the last two days. It is not too serious but he had inflammation in the knee,” said Carvalhal of the Swiss international.

“Let’s see (on Sunday) if he is better or not.”

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