Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to put an end to seven games without a win as they welcome South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley FC to Hillsborough Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Tony Pulis is yet to pick up a victory from his opening six games as Owls boss, drawing three and losing three in his short Hillsborough spell so far.

The Owls come into this fixture on the back of a poor 2-0 defeat against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night, which was arguably the worst display during Pulis’ tenure.

Valérien Ismaël has won six of his opening 10 games in charge of the Tykes after taking over from Gerhard Struber at the end of October.

Barnsley come into this South Yorkshire derby with four victories from their last seven games, placing 16th in the EFL Championship with a 10-point gap between themselves and the relegation spots.

Team news

Sheffield Wednesday will be without Jack Marriott, Aden Flint and Keiren Westwood for the visit of Barnsley.

Julian Börner may also miss this fixture after going off with a head injury in midweek.

Chey Dunkley remains a doubt, though, he has made a return to training but is carefully being eased into the first-team picture after a double leg-break sustained in February.

Liam Shaw serves the final game of his three-match suspension obtained from a rash challenge 30 minutes into the Owls’ 1-1 draw with Reading.

The Tykes will be without midfielder Mike-Steven Bahre and left-back Ben Williams, who are both out with injury.

Predicted lineups

Sheffield Wednesday (4-5-1):

Wildsmith; Palmer, Iorfa, Lees, van Aken; Harris, Paterson, Bannan, Luongo, Reach; Windass.

Barnsley (3-4-2-1):

Walton; Sollbauer, Halme, Andersen; Brittain, James, Mowatt, Styles; Chaplin, Thomas; Woodrow.

Form guide

Sheffield Wednesday remain rooted to the foot of the table after an awful 2020/21 so far. Even with a six-point deduction – originally 12 – at the birth of the campaign, they have only amassed 15 points from 17 games, which would place them only 20th without the penalty.

The Owls come into this fixture after back-to-back losses against Norwich City and Huddersfield. Their last victory came at the start of November, picking up a surprising 1-0 success over promotion-chasing AFC Bournemouth at Hillsborough – just their second home victory of 2020.

Barnsley have won two out of their last three games, picking up wins against Wycombe Wanderers and Birmingham City either side of a 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth last Saturday.

The Tykes will be hoping to use their good form to break a 12-game winless run against the Owls at the weekend.

Ones to watch

Sheffield Wednesday – Josh Windass

The Owls are the league’s second-lowest scorers, netting just nine goals from 17 games.

Two of those have come through Josh Windass, who has been deployed mainly as Wednesday’s focal point up front.

The 26-year-old must improve his tally if the Owls are to begin to climb off the bottom of the table and towards safety.

Windass takes 1.8 shots per game and makes 0.6 dribbles per game as a forward.

Barnsley – Callum Styles

Callum Styles has been a bright spark for Barnsley this season, contributing to three goals from the left channel.

The 20-year-old has two goals in his last three games for Barnsley, picking up the man-of-the-match award in both of those fixtures.

Styles make an average of 1.3 dribbles per game, taking 1.2 shots per game from deep too. However, it is not just his attacking ability that stands out, Styles makes an excellent 3.1 tackles per game, as well as 1.9 interceptions.

Styles can either play as a left wing-back or a left winger for Barnsley.

Last time they met

The Owls continued their winning run against their South Yorkshire rivals the last time Barnsley visited Hillsborough.

Josh Murphy marked his first appearance on loan from Newcastle United with a two-minute debut goal to put Wednesday ahead.

Steven Fletcher wrapped up back-to-back victories for the Owls with a 60th-minute effort to register his first goal of a tally of 13 last season.

Their previous meeting came in February when Cauley Woodrow cancelled out an early Windass opener to earn a point for the Tykes.

The last time Barnsley beat Wednesday was in February 2009, where Jamal Campbell-Ryce's solitary strike was enough to earn the Tykes all three points in S6.

This derby has sprung up many memorable moments, such as Chris Maguire’s long-range, last-minute winner in 2014 or Sam Winnall silencing his former club at Oakwell by celebrating in front of them after putting the Owls ahead in the first half in 2017.

What the managers have said

Barnsley boss Ismaël complimented the Owls, stating that they are still have strength within their ranks amid their dire form this season.

“They are a good team. They have a lot of quality players but are in a struggle right now. But the likes of Kadeem Harris, Barry Bannan and Callum Paterson are big players with proven ability,” he said, speaking in his pre-match press conference.

“They have a very good coach, an experienced guy.

“We have prepared for the best of Sheffield Wednesday and not focused on their current ranking.

“It’s not my job though to comment on their style or their current situation. I just focus on preparing my team to go there and get the result we need.”

Owls boss Pulis believes that his side remains together after a poor run of results.

“They were really bright yesterday in training and really together as a group,” he said, speaking to the club’s official website.

“I was upset at the performance level against Huddersfield, but fingers crossed it was just one of those games.

“If you look at the games, we deserved more points than what we’ve got and that’s self-inflicted, not that other teams have ran all over us.

“The other games, we’ve been in them and should have more points on the board. We’ve given soft goals away and when we’ve had chances, we’ve not taken them.

“But now we’re focused on Barnsley. A lot of these players have been through the derby matches so they should understand what they’re about.”

Where to watch

The match is available on ‘iFollow’ through Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley's respective club websites, with match passes at £10 for those in the United Kingdom.