Sheffield Wednesday out to join Huddersfield Town in play-offs

The in-form Owls – on a five-match winning streak – can clinch a top-six berth tomorrow with victory at Ipswich Town.

Failure to take three points then would mean a nervous final-day showdown with sixth-placed Fulham the following weekend, and also hand Leeds United – five points adrift in seventh spot – a late lifeline.

Carvalhal’s mantra all season has been “the next game is the most important” and he was not wavering from that viewpoint yesterday.

Mick McCarthy’s side may be in the bottom half of the Championship, but they have lost only four times at Portman Road this season.

That is a better home record than four of the top seven – Newcastle, Huddersfield, Wednesday, Fulham and Leeds have all lost five times – meaning the Owls face a tough road trip.

“We have not achieved anything,” insisted Carvalhal. “We are focused on the next game. We know if we win the game we achieve a play-off place.

“We don’t look to others. We look to ourselves. We will try to achieve the three points at a stadium where only four teams have won there this season. They are a very tough team to play against.

“Everybody is happy. The training has been very good and everyone is ready to play. We have to focus on ourselves and do our job.

“We know what to expect on Saturday. We have the capacity to cause them problems.”

Tomorrow’s other key games see Fulham host Brentford, while Leeds welcome Norwich City to Elland Road.

Carvalhal believes Wednesday’s six-match unbeaten run – plus increased competition for places due to squad recruitment – has reinforced the winning mentality he has tried to introduce since his arrival at Hillsborough nearly two years ago.

It means the Owls boss believes his side are better equipped to surpass last season’s achievement, where they were pipped in the Championship play-off final by Hull City at Wembley.

“When we started training at the beginning of the season, we promoted competition inside the team to try to win,” he said. “We don’t want players happy when they lose.

“Part of our job is to create internal competition.

“I think we have done really well in creating a winning mentality. We have Ross Wallace, Steven Fletcher, Gary Hooper, Fernando Forestieri and Daniel Pudil.

“We have a lot of players who have been promoted with teams before so they have this winning mentality. The players like to win and have this attitude all the time.

“We have tried to create a winning mentality in the two years we have been at Sheffield Wednesday.

“When our team loses a game, it is not a drama, but the players feel the results very strong. They like winning a lot and don’t like to lose games.”

The return from injury of key trio Sam Hutchinson, Kieran Lee and Hooper means only David Jones (virus) is missing for tomorrow’s Portman Road trip.

Carvalhal said: ”The panorama is completely different to last month where we didn’t have a lot of players to choose.

“At this moment, we have more options. We have players who are ready and one week to prepare for the games.”

Hooper and Lee have both returned this month after lengthy lay-offs – the latter playing his first game in over three months last Saturday against Derby – while Hutchinson (calf) could return tomorrow after four weeks sidelined.

“Sam has been training this week,” confirmed Carvalhal. “We don’t know yet whether he will be available for Saturday. It’s a similar process to Kieran Lee.

“He has been out a long, long time so we must be careful about the situation.

“If someone who doesn’t usually go outside to dance has a party and goes out to dance with friends and so on, they can probably dance for three or four hours.

“But the next day, it is very hard and you can’t walk.

“After the party, he (Lee) had a lot of pain in the legs. He was tired for two or three days. It is normal because he has been out for three months.

“He is a super athletic guy, but even these kind of personalities are not super men.

“It was not an easy week for him after the game, but we knew this before.

“We are trying to recover him for the weekend.”

Such is the competition for places, striker Sam Winnall – a January signing from Barnsley – was not even in the match-day squad to face Derby.

“Nobody is happy when they are not in the 18,” Carvalhal said. “Nobody is happy when they are on the bench.

“All the players want to play, but all of them have shown a fantastic attitude. They are professionals.

“We can’t put three strikers on the bench because we need to balance the 18.”