6 days ago
Pick of the stats: Sheffield Wednesday v Stoke City
Sheffield Wednesday's return to Hillsborough for the first time this season after a summer of financial disarray as they welcome Stoke City on Saturday (15:00 BST).
Planned protests against Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri went well at the King Power Stadium during the side's 2-1 loss to Leicester City last weekend and the fans will continue to apply pressure on the Thai business man on home soil.
The Potters won't want to be distracted by the noise around the club however, as they won both their Championship and Carabao Cup matches across the past week and will want to keep the winning momentum going.
Sheffield Wednesday are unbeaten across their last seven home league games against Stoke City (W2 D5), keeping clean sheets in three of their last four meetings with the Potters at Hillsborough.
After beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 in their last league meeting in April, Stoke City could win successive league matches against the Owls for the first time since winning three in a row between 1969 and 1984.
Sheffield Wednesday have lost their opening home game in just one of the last 11 league campaigns (W5 D5), with that defeat coming against Southampton in 2023-24 (1-2).
Stoke have failed to win their opening away game in any of the last 17 league campaigns (D7 L10), failing to score in each of the last five. Indeed, Stoke last won their first away league game in a season back in 2007-08 in the Championship (1-0 v Cardiff).
Sheffield Wednesday's Barry Bannan was sent off v Leicester on MD1, since his debut for the Owls in September 2015, the club holds a 40.7% win-rate when he's featured in league matches compared to 31.2% without.
