Sheffield Wednesday are set to go up against a very familiar face when they travel to Ipswich Town this weekend.
Sheffield Wednesday head to Portman Road in the Championship on Saturday where they face 2nd place Ipswich Town.
David Prutton has backed Ipswich to beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1, but the Owls will be hoping to deal Town another loss following their 2-1 comeback defeat vs Cardiff City last time out.
That defeat allowed Leeds United to move up into 2nd after they beat Danny Rohl’s Wednesday last Friday, with the Owls remaining in 23rd place of the table.
A win for Wednesday this weekend could lift them as high as 17th depending on other results.
Massimo Luongo at Sheffield Wednesday
When Sheffield Wednesday face Ipswich Town this weekend, they’ll face former fan favourite Massimo Luongo.
The former Australian international spent three seasons at Hillsborough playing under Darren Moore, but saw his time in S6 plagued by injuries.
In total, Luongo made 73 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday, scoring four goals and making five assists.
He left the club in 2022 after rejecting a new contract and signed for Middlesbrough, though he’d eventually leave Boro without ever playing for them, owing to injury.
Massimo Luongo at Ipswich Town
But with Ipswich, it’s been a different story for Luongo.
The same day he left Middlesbrough, he signed a short-term contract at Ipswich Town and helped them get over the promotion line in League One last season.
And he’s now find consistency in terms of fitness, featuring 34 times in the Championship this season and scoring two goals for the Tractor Boys.
But the 45-cap Socceroo has been off the pace recently.
Several Ipswich Town fans say that Luongo has looked tired in recent weeks; he’s started the last two but hasn’t played more than 75 minutes, having played a full 90 minutes on just two occasions in 2024.
In the defat vs Cardiff City last time out, Luongo was handed a 6/10 rating by East Anglian Daily Times, with journalist Alex Jones saying that the midfielder didn’t provide ‘enough in terms of surging runs’ and was ‘outnumbered’ in the midfield.
Danny Rohl needs to overload midfield against Ipswich
Luongo is a player with bags of quality; Sheffield Wednesday fans know this as well as anyone.
But injuries certainly takes its toll on the player and it seems like he may be fatiguing as we near the end of the season, so should he start on Saturday, Wednesday need to swarm the midfield.
Rohl has a lot of energy to offload in the middle of the park in particular; Barry Bannan is showing no signs of slowing down at 34 years old, whilst Will Vaulks is a livewire, and seems to be regaining some form after a tough start to 2024.
So those two could well dictate the midfield tomorrow, and if they can do that then they could dictate the game.
Ipswich are a team who love to transition and hit teams on the counter, so if Wednesday control the middle then they arguably control Ipswich Town.
And Town have shown in recent weeks that they can be beaten, and that they can leak goals too; Ipswich are yet to keep a clean sheet at home in 2024.
Kick off is at 3pm on Saturday.
The post Sheffield Wednesday set to face former fan favourite v Ipswich, but he's been off the pace recently appeared first on Sheffield Wednesday News.