Sheffield Wednesday v Palace

Hillsborough, Saturday 3.00pm

Wilfried Zaha

Team news

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha is a doubt for the trip to Sheffield after suffering with a dead leg in the midweek win over Bristol City. Jon Williams came off in the second half with a sore muscle and will be checked on.

Paddy McCarthy (groin) plus fellow defenders Joel Ward (groin) and Danny Gabbidon (hamstring) are still missing. Midfielders Owen Garvan (knee), Andre Moritz (ankle) and striker Alex Nimely (hamstring) are out.

Sheffield Wednesday defender Reda Johnson could return to the squad after recovering from an ankle injury. Otherwise, manager Dave Jones has a fully-fit squad at his disposal.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"They (Sheffield Wednesday) are on an unbeaten run that’s got them out of the bottom three. They had a great start to the season so it’s not going to be an easy thing.

"Touch wood I’ve been fortunate in my managerial career there so far. It’s really important that you set your stall out. I think we’ve been reliant on our wingers a little bit too much. Away from home the longer the season goes on the harder it is for them to keep producing and the easier it is for other teams to stop them.

"What we’ve got to do is go up there and be professional and start winning away from home. I think we’ve got the right elements in the group now to cause them a problem but it’s that resilience and mental strength you need.

"Dave’s teams are always very competitive and he got them promoted last season and they started on a bit of a roll. The squad is forever changing; I think he’s made two great additions in Leroy Lita and Connor Wickham so that will give them a bit of firepower.

"I know what I’m expecting, a really tough game, the crowd there are sensational if the team’s doing well so I want to quieten that crowd down first. It’s all about trying to imposing our way of playing on the opposition and in the last four games I’ve insisted on that.

"I’m looking at us and what we’re going to do and I can see us get more and more polished at what I want. It’s starting to be in the lads' fabric rather than the old way of doing it. Now we need to keep some of that and maybe we’ve lost a bit of our resilience away from home so I’ll be drumming that into them."

Dave Jones

“It’s a crazy, crazy division. I hate it with a passion. The only predictable thing is the unpredictability of it. But there is still a lot of football to play, and at the minute it looks like it could be three from 14 teams [to go down].

“But that’s what you want - we have to keep ticking along and picking up points. We were disappointed not to get the win at Birmingham, and that shows how far we’ve come as a team. Now there’s another tough test on Saturday, against a team looking to get out of the division.

“There’s a big Easter period coming, and it will be tough. Milan [Mandaric, chairman] said to me this week that we have some big games coming up, but they’re all big games in this division: we’ve still got to play Palace, Leicester and Cardiff. But there is an air of confidence about us, and we can do some damage on our day.

“It makes a big difference when the team is playing well. Confidence is now high - there’s a great team spirit, and the lads believe they’re not going to lose, which is good.

“When there’s a confidence in the team, players will help you out a bit more instead of just going out for themselves. But earlier in the season, we were playing OK and still losing, and people tend to get blamed when that happens."

Anthony Gardner

“You can see the difference around the place, win a few games and it becomes a lot happier. No-one likes losing games, of course, and coming in after a run of defeats is never a nice feeling.

“But Hillsborough now is a better place to be - and we have to keep our good run going. Hopefully then we can pull teams back down, and then you never know where a run of wins might take you. It’s important to keep looking up, and keep thinking positively.”

Sheffield Wednesday - league stats

Full league table

Sheffield Wednesday - current form

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
01/09/2012	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Sheffield Wednesday
02/05/2010	League	Sheffield Wednesday	2 - 2	Crystal Palace
02/01/2010	FA Cup	Sheffield Wednesday	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
29/09/2009	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Sheffield Wednesday
21/02/2009	League	Sheffield Wednesday	2 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Saturday September 01 2012

Palace: Speroni, Delaney, Ramage, Parr, Bolasie (Williams, 81), Garvan, Blake (Moxey, 46), Jedinak, Zaha, Murray, Moritz (Goodwillie, 63)

Subs not used: Price, Ward, Dikgacoi, Wilbraham

Goals: Murray (1, 83)

Bookings: Delaney, Murray

Sheffield Wednesday: Kirkland, Buxton, Semedo, Beevers, Jones, Llera, Antonio, Johnson (Pecnik, 77), McCabe, O'Grady (Madine, 61), Rodri (Mayor, 84)

Subs not used: Bywater, Taylor, Mattock, Corry

Goals: Antonio (50)

Bookings: Buxton, Semedo, Jones

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