SCOUT'S REPORT: SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

Cardiff City travel to relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday this Saturday - the two sides meeting on the back of points gained from Leicester City in the past week.

Indeed it was three points gained for the Yorkshire side from the Foxes, Wednesday coming from King Power Stadium with a 1-0 win. That leaves them nineteenth in the table, though just four points above the dreaded drop zone.

But despite their lowly standing, the Owls' form has picked up of late. The last eight games sees them occupy ninth position in the form tables - two spots above Cardiff City.

And Wednesday are comfortably in the top half of the table when it comes to clean sheets; their problem has come in front of goal. Dave Jones’ men are the third lowest scorers in the division. Only Ipswich Town and Huddersfield Town have a worse record.

Key Players: an integral part of the Sheffield squad is midfielder Michail Antonio. He has featured in all thirty-six games and has been the Owls’ top scorer with eight goals. 

Leroy Lita has proven to be a welcome addition to the squad too, having featured in eight games since joining on loan from Swansea. In those eight games he has netted three times, and also scored against City earlier in the season while on loan with Birmingham City.

Along with Antonio, Chris Kirkland is the only other player to feature in every single league game. The former England stopper has managed nine clean sheets, that’s one every four games. Likely to be aiding Kirkland on his quest for a clean sheet, are defenders Miguel Llera and Lewis Buxton. Llera has had the third most shots on target with sixteen. He has managed five goals for his efforts.

Previous Meetings: Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday are all square with twenty-four wins a piece from their sixty previous meetings. Twelve games ended in draws.

The last ten games between the two teams have resulted in four wins for City, four wins for Wednesday and two draws. Cardiff have won the last two and will no doubt be looking to make it three in a row as they aim to extend their lead at the summit.

Last Meeting: Cardiff City 1–0 Sheffield Wednesday (02/12/2012)

Cardiff City made it ten home wins from ten with a 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday ahead of Christmas.

But it took until the eightieth minute for city to break the deadlock against a 'park the bus' style Wednesday. When it was broken it was done in some style. After controlling the ball with his knee, Craig Conway unleashed a left footed strike form outside the box, into the bottom right corner of the Owls’ net. The win meant Malky’s men regained the top spot above Crystal Palace.

Cardiff City Line-up: Marshall, Taylor, Hudson, Turner, Connolly, Whittingham, Conway, Kim (Mason), Mutch (Gunnarsson), Helguson (Gestede), Bellamy. Subs not used: Lewis, McNaughton, Cowie, Lappin.

Sheffield Wednesday Line-up: Kirkland, Buxton, Taylor, Llera, Antonio, Lines, Mayor (Johnson), Henlan, Prutton, O’Grady (Rodri), Sidibe (Madine). Subs not used: Bywater, Jones, McCabe, Lee.