The Owls play one of their biggest home games of the season this weekend with a 25,000+ crowd expected at Fortress Hillsborough for the visit of League One table topping Charlton.

Wednesdayite.com match previewer Ricky Charlesworth previews the Owls v Charlton Athletic League One game which takes place at Hillsborough Stadium on Saturday 14th January 2012 with a 3pm kick off.

 

OWLS v CHARLTON ATHLETIC
Saturday 14 January 2012
Hillsborough 
3pm KO

LOWDOWN
The Owls head into a huge clash between two of the divisional heavyweights on Saturday afternoon.

A big crowd is expected for arguably the game of the season so far and Gary Megson’s men will defend a proud unbeaten home record which was further signalled last week when Championship high-fliers West Ham were put to the sword. Standing in Wednesday’s way is undoubtedly the form team this year. 

Chris Powell’s Charlton have been the pacesetters of League One this season, racking up 54 points and scoring 49 goals – nearly two per game. Their form of late though, has been inconsistent. Their last three games have been London derbies. They were tonked by Fulham in the Cup and also lost at Leyton Orient. Sandwiched between those two defeats was a 2-0 home win against Brentford. 

Before those cluster of games, Powell’s men only just edged a five-goal thriller with Yeovil and were held 1-1 by both Oldham and Walsall. Those few results show that Charlton may just be going through a sticky patch and the Owls will hopefully exploit that on Saturday. 

TEAM NEWS
Ben Marshall makes his swansong S6 appearance against the Addicks, unless Wednesday can agree a loan extension with his parent club Stoke. 

Elsewhere, Mike Jones could come in for a full debut after joining from Bury. The winger is likely to take James Tavernier’s place in the starting line-up after he returned to Newcastle. Miguel Llera has also signed on a permanent deal for the Owls but is unlikely to disrupt the settled partnership of Danny Batth and Rob Jones for the time being. 

Up front, last week’s match winner Chris O’Grady will be partnered by either Clinton Morrison or Ryan Lowe. Continuing the theme of loanees, Sanchez Watt is unlikely to feature before he returns to Arsenal on Monday.

PROBABLE LINE-UP
Weaver; 
R Johnson, R Jones, Batth, Otsemobor; 
Marshall, Lines, Semedo, M Jones; 
O’Grady, Morrison

KEY MAN
Michael MORRISON – the centre-half signed for Wednesday last January for a substantial six-figure fee with a considerable reputation, however after fifteen outings he was bombed out to the Londoners last summer. He tasted victory just three times in a Wednesday shirt and his questionable hard-hitting approach when the two teams met last time out may mean he attracts the attention of the Hillsborough boo-boys.

LAST MEETING 
(September 2011) Charlton 1-1 OWLS (Clinton Morrison)
Wednesday earned a valuable point on their travels in front of the TV cameras, thanks to Clinton Morrison, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes.

Up the Owls.
Ricky

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