Sheffield Wednesday: Four ruled out and potential suspension looms – but crucial decision pays off

Wednesday had a number of players touch and go for the home tie against Milton Keynes Dons last week, but a number of them came through and featured in that encounter as they went on to secure a 5-2 home victory that sent them top of the league.

Darren Moore raised eyebrows when he decided to start – and leave – Aden Flint and Akin Famewo on the bench for the visit of the Dons on Saturday, but it was a decision that paid off as they were both given time off and three points were sealed without them.

The defensive duo are likely to return against Charlton at the Valley, and fears were allayed with the likes of George Byers, Lee Gregory and Jack Hunt as they all went on to feature in the game last weekend as well.

Question marks remain, meanwhile, on Marvin Johnson given the charge against him from the FA that could potentially see him suspended. Should that be the case then it would be expected that Reece James would move to the left wingback role.

So Wednesday go into this weekend’s fixture without any fresh concerns as things stand, leaving them with just the four players thought to be unavailable – and one that’s carrying an injury but playing through the inconvenience…

Michael Smith

He’s technically injured, but it doesn’t appear to be worrying him on the pitch too much. Smith has got a hand injury that has been increasingly strapped up – but he scored twice with it last weekend so long may that continue.

Verdict: Playing through it – should be fine

Mallik Wilks

No timeframe has been given on this one other than that he should be out for ‘weeks’ with a calf injury. He wasn’t in any of the video content that Wednesday put out from the training ground this week, so it may be that March is his month to return.

Verdict: Likely to still be missing

Callum Paterson

It was a real bitter blow to lose Paterson when they did, and it’s going to be a bit of time before he’s back out on the pitch again. The plus side is that his injury doesn’t require surgery.

Verdict: Only back towards the end of the season

Michael Ihiekwe

‘Icky’ is another one that’s out for a while after picking up a knee injury. It was originally expected that he’d be out for a couple of months, but that was then extended until ‘towards the end of the season’.

Verdict: Probably looking at April as a best-case scenario

Ben Heneghan

Heneghan’s injury was the most brutal of all the ones picked up by Wednesday players this term. It required a serious amount of rest and then surgery before he could start the road to recovery. He’s been back at the training ground, but will only be playing again next season.

Verdict: The hope is that he’ll be back for when preseason begins

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