Sheffield Wednesday vs Oxford predictions: United capable of boosting battle against the drop
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- Sheffield Wednesday have not won any of their last seven home matches
- Oxford have avoided defeat in six of their last 10 away league matches
- Recommended bet: Draw or Oxford double chance
Oxford visit Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday still locked in the thick of a wide-open battle against relegation from the Championship.
Last season's League One play-off winners have found the jump up to the EFL's top division tough for most of the season and their 3-1 defeat to this weekend's opponents in December led to manager Des Buckingham being sacked.
Gary Rowett took over just before Christmas and has been able to keep Oxford clear of the bottom three, but the gap to the relegation zone is now just three points with only five matches remaining and an epic battle involving most of the teams in the bottom half of the table looks set to go down to the wire.
With 53 points, Wednesday are 11 clear of relegation but also nine points short of the play-off places and a mid-table finish seems inevitable.
Team news
Sheffield Wednesday defenders Di'Shon Bernard and Max Lowe are likely to be missing for the rest of the season due to injuries.
The home line-up will depend on whether manager Danny Rohl opts to stick with a back three after securing a draw at Blackburn with that system. Teenage goalkeeper Pierce Charles has been preferred to the more experienced James Beadle in recent matches.
Owls midfielder Barry Bannan could start after remaining on the bench in midweek while Stuart Armstrong, Josh Windass, Michael Smith and Olaf Kobacki are hoping to force their way in after making substitute appearances against Rovers.
Oxford are likely to still be missing Matt Phillips, Elliott Moore and Greg Leigh, but Tyler Goodrham, Tom Bradshaw, Stanley Mills and Ruben Rodrigues could all be in the mix to play.
Joe Bennett is likely to replace Ciaron Brown after the defender went off injured after just 12 minutes of the defeat by QPR.
The stats
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Sheffield Wednesday have conceded in 16 of their last 19 Championship home games.
The Owls have won only five of their 20 league matches at Hillsborough.
Wednesday have lost five of their last nine games.
Three of Wednesday's last four league matches have ended with under 2.5 goals.
Eight of Oxford's 11 Championship wins this season were by a single goal.
Only one of Oxford's 11 league victories has come on the road.
Both teams have scored in five of Oxford's last seven matches.
Prediction
With only one away league win all season, Oxford would not be everyone's first choice to perform well on the road this weekend, but Gary Rowett's team have a lot more to fight for than their hosts and are not likely to roll over easily.
The U's showed improvement when scraping together a pair of 1-0 home wins over Watford and Sheffield United, with a spirited 2-1 away loss at Middlesbrough in between, and while their 3-1 midweek defeat by QPR was disappointing, they are capable of being competitive at Hillsborough despite their lack of away success this season.
The home side are on a four-game winless run and have only three wins and six defeats within their last 12 fixtures, so it is no surprise that they have faded tamely away from play-off contention.
Wednesday have suffered four successive home defeats to Hull, Sheffield United, Sunderland and Coventry, with three draws at Hillsborough before that, so they look a short price to win and Oxford can be backed to take something from the match.
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