Sheffield Wednesday will be aiming to finally build some momentum this weekend when they take on Millwall at Hillsborough.
The Owls brought an end to their winless run in midweek and were given another boost with news that their 12-point deduction has been halved.
Millwall are without a goal or a win in their last two outings, meanwhile, but they are just a point outside the playoff zone ahead of this match.
Match preview
© Reuters
If certain reports were to be believed, Garry Monk was on the brink of being sacked by Wednesday following a run of four defeats on the spin, failing to score in three of those.
Barry Bannan's second-half penalty against 10-man Bournemouth on Tuesday could prove to be the turning point for Monk though, with Wednesday stopping the rot thanks to a precious 1-0 victory.
However, not since December 2019 have the Owls won back-to-back matches in the league - the type of inconsistency that has plagued them for too long.
That win against Bournemouth, combined with their points deduction being cut in half, means that Monk's men are now three points from safety.
Clawing out of the bottom three as soon as possible will be the aim for the Yorkshire outfit, before then re-evaluating their aims for the campaign.
© Reuters
Millwall's target seems to be pretty clear at this stage as they find themselves just a point outside the playoff places heading into matchday 11.
The Lions played out a goalless draw against Norwich City in midweek, four days on from firing a blank in a 3-0 home loss to Huddersfield Town.
That latest shutout made it 15 clean sheets for Gary Rowett's charges in 2020 - more than any other side in the top four tiers of English football.
Millwall have also kept a clean sheet in each of their last three league meetings with Wednesday, following on from a run of 11 in a row without doing so.
The South London club do not tend to pick up wins at Hillsborough, however, losing three and drawing three of their last six trips since a 2-1 win in September 2005.
Sheffield Wednesday Championship form: WLLLLW
Millwall Championship form: WWDWLD
Team News
© Reuters
Kadeem Harris was sent off late on in the win over Bournemouth and will therefore miss this game, while centre-back Aden Flint has also been ruled out with a hamstring strain.
Monk is expected to stick with his 3-5-2 formation, with Adam Reach a contender to fill in for Harris at left wing-back.
Callum Paterson, Jack Marriott and Izzy Brown were all brought on in the second half against Bournemouth and will be pushing for inclusion on Saturday.
As for the visitors, they will be without Kenneth Zohore for the next couple of months because of a calf issue.
Matt Smith and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson were both used in the backs-to-the-wall showing against Norwich, but Tom Bradshaw may well get the nod through the middle at Hillsborough.
Millwall tend to use five across the back away from home, so expect that to be the case here.
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Wildsmith; Palmer, Iorfa, Borner; Odubajo, Bannan, Pelupessy, Reach; Brown; Windass, Kachunga
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutch, Cooper, Murray, Malone; Woods, Leonard; Wallace, Bradshaw, Bennett
We say: Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Millwall
Wednesday may have picked up an important victory in midweek, but it has been 11 months since they last won back-to-back matches in the league.
Millwall are without a goal in their last two matches but have 10 points from their five away league games so far this term - only Preston North End have earned more (13) - so we are backing the Lions to edge this one.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Millwall win with a probability of 41.69%. A draw had a probability of 29.2% and a win for Sheffield Wednesday had a probability of 29.06%.
The most likely scoreline for a Millwall win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.99%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (8.38%) and 1-2 (7.96%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (13.28%), while for a Sheffield Wednesday win it was 1-0 (11.08%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 11.7% likelihood.
