Bristol City have started the season perfectly under new head coach Dean Holden, with two wins from two games against Coventry City on the opening day and Stoke City last weekend. This placed them second in the table before this weekend’s fixtures.

Sheffield Wednesday, who began the season on a negative 12-point tally, have begun the season well with four points from their first two fixtures, reducing the deficit to eight points. Garry Monk will be hoping to implement their early momentum into this game to continue closing the aperture between themselves and positive points.

Both sides exited the Carabao Cup to Premier League opposition in midweek, with City losing 3-0 to Aston Villa and Wednesday being defeated 2-0 at Craven Cottage at the hands of Fulham.

The Owls have a great record against Bristol City, losing just three times in their last 13 meetings and winning seven of them fixtures.

Team news

The Robins are without Tomas Kalas, Jay Dasilva, Liam Walsh, Joe Williams, Joe Morrell, Callum O’Dowda and Nathan Baker on Sunday afternoon due to injury.

Other than an injury to Chey Dunkley, who is yet to make an appearance since his switch to Hillsborough from Wigan Athletic, Wednesday have a healthy squad going into this fixture at Ashton Gate. Osaze Urhoghide perhaps remains a doubt for the fixture as he returns from a serious knee injury – the 20-year-old defender played 45 minutes for the Under-23s in midweek against Barnsley.

Predicted lineups

Bristol City (5-3-2): Bentley; Vyner, Baker, Moore, Mawson, Rowe; Bakinson, Weimann, Paterson; Martin, Wells.

Sheffield Wednesday (3-5-2): Dawson; Iorfa, Lees, Joost van Aken; Harris, Bannan, Luongo, Brown, Penney; Windass, Rhodes.

Form Guide

Both sides go into this contest unbeaten in the Championship.

Bristol City began the campaign with a 2-1 win over newly-promoted Coventry on the opening day before an impressive 2-0 victory over Stoke meant that the Robins are just one of three teams, who still boast a 100% record this season.

Sheffield Wednesday commenced the season with a 2-0 away victory against Cardiff City thanks to an early Josh Windass effort and a Jordan Rhodes deft touch in the first half. The Owls then followed up that win with a goalless draw against a strong Watford side that are still finding their feet in England’s second division after relegation from the Premier League last term.

 

Ones to watch

Bristol City – Chris Martin

The forward already has one goal in his first four appearances since his move from Derby County in the summer, however, his powerful and robust style up front could prove to be a handful for the Wednesday back three on Saturday.

Martin wins 2.6 of an average six headers per game which against the likes of Dominic Iorfa and Tom Lees could prove to be vital to beat them in the air with Nahki Wells playing just off his shoulder.

Martin had 17 goal involvements for the Rams last season.

 

Sheffield Wednesday – Barry Bannan

The Scottish international seemingly loves to play against Bristol City, with three goals in the last four years of meetings between the two sides.

The 30-year-old is Wednesday’s catalyst when moving through the centre, making 2.2 key passes per game last season, as well as boasting a 79.2% pass success rate.

Bannan recorded eight assists for Wednesday last year.

 

Last time they met

These two sides last met at the end of June during the restart to the Championship – after the outbreak of Covid-19 – with the Owls coming away from Aston Gate with a 2-1 victory.

On-loan forward Connor Wickham put Wednesday into the lead with a powerful header four minutes into the game before Massimo Luongo poked Wednesday into a comfortable advantage on the hour.

Wells made the final moments nervy for the away side when he halved the deficit with 12 minutes remaining, but Wednesday stayed resolute to gain three points. 

 

What the managers have said

Robins head coach Holden has demanded that his side need to provide a “positive response” after their 3-0 defeat against Aston Villa on Thursday night.

“It’s now all about the league and a positive response is needed,” said Holden, speaking to the official Bristol City website.

“It’s always about what we do next, recovery is big now and Sheffield Wednesday played last night [Wednesday] so they have an extra day but it’s not too big a deal, as long as we recover properly and attack the game as we did in the previous four.”

 

Wednesday boss Monk has stated in his pre-match press conference that the Owls need to pick up as many early points as they can get due to the strong opposition that they are currently up against.

Monk told the official Sheffield Wednesday website: “This will be our fifth away game out of six, so it is tough; it’s not easy but it’s the way it’s fallen for us.”

“I think the expectation down there [at Bristol City] has always been to make the play-offs and promotion.

“We have done well with the first two against these type of teams and it will be another tough one.

“It is going to be another tough game but if we can perform anything as we did in the game at Ashton Gate after lockdown then we’ll be in a good position to try and take points.

“Our aim is to get as many points as early as possible and I think you have seen that attitude in all the games. We haven't got any games to waste.”

 

Where to watch

The only way to view this clash live on Sunday 27 September is by purchasing an 'iFollow' match pass on either of the club’s website.

VAVEL Logo
About the author