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Championship
Aug 16, 2014 at 3pm UK
 
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Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs. Derby County

Sports Mole looks ahead to Saturday's Championship clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Derby, who both won their opening matches of the season.

Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to improve their already impressive start to the season this weekend when they host Derby County at Hillsborough on Saturday.

The Owls produced something of a surprise result in their opening match of the campaign last weekend, beating Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 at the Amex Stadium in what was Sami Hyypia's first game in charge of the Seagulls.

Things don't get any easier for Stuart Gray's side as they take on a Derby side tipped for automatic promotion next, but he will have taken huge confidence from how his side have started the 2014-15 campaign.

Wednesday made it two wins from two on Tuesday with a commanding victory over Notts County in the League Cup, keeping a second clean sheet in the process.

For a team that made such a poor start last season, amassing a decent number of points in the early stages this time around could enable them to push on and challenge for a top-half finish.

Gray has moved to add further firepower to his front line as well, signing Stevie May from St Johnstone, and the new boy could feature this weekend having missed the Notts County clash.

One player who will not be involved is Dejan Kelhar, however, after the new signing was ruled out for most of the season with a knee injury.

Derby have also made a promising start to the season as they look to get over the heartbreak of having missed out on promotion to the Premier League in the dying stages of the playoff final last term.

They were forced to wait for the winner against newly-promoted Rotherham United in their opening match of the campaign, but it duly arrived with eight minutes remaining courtesy of Jeff Hendrick.

It may not have been the most convincing of victories for a team that is expected to be challenging at the top of the table, but an early three points on the board will certainly please manager Steve McClaren.

The boss wasn't happy with his side in midweek, however, despite progressing into the second round of the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Carlisle United.

The Rams squandered a number of good chances throughout the match before finally sealing the victory in the 93rd minute through Chris Martin.

George Thorne remains absent with a knee injury this weekend, while Jamie Ward and Leon Best are both pushing for starts, but McClaren could opt to name an unchanged side.

Recent form

Sheff Weds: WDLDWW

Derby: WLWWWW

Possible starting lineups

Sheff Weds: Westwood; Palmer, Lees, Loovens, Mattock; Maguire, Coke, Hutchinson, Maghoma; Lee; May

Derby: Grant; Christie, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Bryson, Hughes, Hendrick; Dawkins, Martin, Russell

Sports Mole says: 1-2


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Jeff Hendrick of Derby in action during the Sky Bet Championship Playoff Final match between Derby County and Queens Park Rangers at Wembley Stadium on May 24, 2014
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leeds UnitedLeeds1695228121632
2Sunderland1695226121432
3Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1610422191232
4Burnley168621961330
5Middlesbrough1683529191027
6West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom166821811726
7Watford168262524126
8Millwall166641914524
9Blackburn RoversBlackburn156451917222
10Bristol City165742020022
11Derby CountyDerby165562020020
12Stoke CityStoke165561920-120
13Norwich CityNorwich164752524119
14Swansea CitySwansea165471414019
15Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds165471826-819
16Luton TownLuton165381826-818
17Coventry CityCoventry164572223-117
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd164571924-517
19Plymouth ArgylePlymouth164571728-1117
20Preston North EndPreston163761624-816
21Cardiff CityCardiff164481524-916
22Hull City163671621-515
23Portsmouth152671628-1212
24Queens Park RangersQPR161871326-1311


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