Sheffield Wednesday v Palace

Hillsborough, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

This Easter weekend sees Palace travel to Hillsorough in a game that means everything to both sides, with the Yorkshire club battling against relegation with Palace striving for the play-offs.

Wednesday are another of the 'big clubs' that have suffered in recent years, but as Leeds and Nottingham Forest will testify, history means nothing in the modern game.

You can't really get much more history than Wednesday - they're one of the oldest clubs, they've won domestic cups and they've won a few League titles. Speaking of FA Cups, Wednesday actually won it twice at Crystal Palace.

The last couple of decades saw Wednesday spend the majority of their time in the top flight but disaster struck at the beginning of the millennium - debts, poor managers and relegation.

Relegation to League 1 soon followed where Wednesday sat for a few years. The Owls clambered to the play-offs in 04/05, won promotion and have been aiming for survival since then.

This start of this season is the worst that Owls supporters have had to endure in the entire club's history, which sees them attempting to stave off relegation once more.

There is a slight difference this year - this is undoubtedly the worst this division has been for a long time and so Wednesday, with only a handful of games remaining, have a good chance of escaping dark void at the bottom of the league. So much so that Sheffield United, in 13th spot, are only seven points from the bottom three.

Team news

Crystal Palace hope to have midfielder Neil Danns (groin) and defender TONY CRAIG (shoulder) back after the dup came through a midweek reserves game unscathed.

But winger Paul Ifill is unlikely to feature due to an ankle knock which forced him off after 45 minutes of that match. Striker Victor Moses and defender Danny Butterfield are out both out with thigh strains.

Sheffield Wednesday striker Ben Sahar - on-loan from Chelsea - couls play after overcoming his hamstring injury.

Midfielder Steve Watson (hamstring) and full-back Frank Simek (ankle) are both fighting for first team starts.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"From our point of view we can play with freedom because nobody expected us to be where we are.

"The pressure was for us to stay up and to do that while bringing the kids through is great. We've brought through six 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old this season - it's not bad going.

"It doesn't feel like we're close to the play-offs because we're just enjoying it as, according to everybody when I came here, we shouldn't be where we are at the moment.

"We don't feel any pressure. I don't feel the players do, which is an advantage at this time of the year.

"Wednesday have done well but they still find themselves in the bottom three. There are a lot of big clubs around Wednesday - teams like Leicester, Southampton and Norwich - who would not have expected to be in that area.

"There's a lot of nervousness and we just have to look after ourselves."

Brian Laws

"We all recognise the position that we're in and as a result of that, every game becomes bigger than the last one, and none more so than Crystal Palace.

"Palace are unbeaten in five and in good form but we are on as good a run as almost anyone in the division. They don't concede a lot of goals but neither do we. So I'm expecting a very tight game with not a lot of goals.

"Obviously, we want one more than them and if we go into the game with the right attitude and desire, we have what it takes to get the points.

"We mustn't panic because, on paper, of all the teams down there, we have one of the best chances of getting out of it.

"If we win at the weekend, that will unnerve a lot of the teams in the cluster that could go. Also, some of these teams don't know what it's all about but we understand completely the emotions of being in that bottom three."

---

Sheffield Wednesday - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
22nd	37	12	7	18	43

Full league table

---

Sheffield Wednesday - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
6	3	2	1	5	3

Full form table

---

Our away record v Sheffield Wednesday

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
24	3	6	15	21	44

---

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
15/12/2007	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Sheffield Wednesday
31/03/2007	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Sheffield Wednesday
31/10/2006	League	Sheffield Wednesday	3 - 2	Crystal Palace
11/02/2006	League	Sheffield Wednesday	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
27/09/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Sheffield Wednesday

All time results

---

One to watch

Ben Sahar

You know you're in trouble when you have Franck Songo'o starting every game for you since joining on loan. We were - Wednesday are.

Apart from the occasional step-over, Songo'o adds little to a team, saying that, he'll play a blinder against us now.

With their top scorer [Marcus Tudgay] injured, Wednesday do lack attacking options.

Ben Sahar hasn't stared any games for Wednesday yet but he's got enough talent in him to haunt a few defenders.

Sahar is one of those players that is full of pace, running, strength and skill. He needs games to develop and to demostrate exactly what he is capable of, but his natural talent cannot be questioned.

Ref watch

R J Booth

Last meeting

Palace 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Saturday December 15 2007

Palace: Speroni, Lawrence, Hill, Hudson, Butterfield, Soares, Watson (Martin, 69), Derry, Songo'o (Scannell, 57), Scowcroft, Morrison

Subs not used: Freedman, Hills

Goals: Morrison 37, Scannell 90

Sheffield Wednesday: Grant, Simek (Bullen, 28), Hinds, Michael Johnson, Spurr, Whelan, Watson, Jermaine Johnson, O'Brien, Small, Tudgay

Subs not used: Lunt, Beevers, Folly

Goals: Hinds 11

Prediction league

0 members have predicted for this game so far.

Make your prediction on this game

Away travel info

Click here