Bristol City v Sheffield Wednesday: Owls will ignore hosts' struggles

This evening, Wednesday return to Ashton Gate, the venue of one of their darkest hours in an illuminating 2015-16 campaign, but he is typically minded to consider the present and not concern himself with the past.

However, Wednesdayites heading to the west country tonight are likely to have longer memories and will probably indulge in a touch of schadenfreude if their side can intensify the misery for the beleaguered Robins and claim some choice payback.

It was on April 9 last year that the Owls were thumped 4-1 by the rampant Bristolians in what remains the heaviest defeat of the Carvalhal reign.

The odds on a repeat of that emphatic scoreline will be long in the extreme, with relegation-threatened Bristol City in the middle of a truly desperate run.

They have lost their last eight Championship matches, have won just once in their past 13, and have taken a pitiful haul of four points from the last 39 available.

It has heaped intense pressure upon head coach Lee Johnson, with Wednesday not inclined to do him any favours this evening, with Johnson’s former club Barnsley right on their coat-tails in seventh place.

Carvalhal, for his part, is not reading much into the Robins’ travails and will be well aware of the Owls’ toils against several of the division’s strugglers in 2015-16, which represented an Achilles heel at times.

Carvalhal said: “I saw the video of their game in the cup (at the weekend). The coach has changed players. There are no easy games in this competition.

“When you think that it will be an easy game, you will have a big problem. We don’t expect to play a weak team. We know there are surprises in this competition and it will be difficult.

“I know the coach. He is a good coach and they have good players. It will be a tough game.

“We lost the game there last season and they deserved to win, but this is a new season. It is history.”

The long trip to Bristol is the first leg of a key away double for the Owls this week and while Carvalhal, not for the first time, is far from enamoured with the club’s itinerary, he is taking matters squarely on the chin.

After Ashton Gate, the Owls will be in action 72 hours later at Wigan, with the Latics having the comparative luxury of a clear build-up to the Friday night game without a midweek appointment.

Carvalhal has been critical on several previous occasions about the Championship scheduling.

He expressed anger earlier this season that the Owls had two fewer days to recover than opponents Cardiff City for their game in Wales on October 19 – having been in action just two days earlier - and said: “It is very strange. I won’t talk anymore about the fixtures.

“We have waited a long time to play a game and now we play twice in four days. Wigan don’t play on Tuesday, so we are not in the same circumstances. I am tired of talking about this.”

With a hint of sarcasm, he added: “I don’t want to change anything in English football. It is the best league in the world. I must accept the rules of the competition, but understanding that the teams do not play in the same conditions.”

He may have kept a diplomatic silence about the fact that Championship and Premier League teams must take the field this evening just hours before the transfer window deadline, but it it is easy to guess at his feelings.

Most would venture that the Portugeuse, like many other managers, will probably be glad when the hype and hullabaloo of the January transfer window, which has invaded social media sites, newspaper column inches and the airwaves since the new year was ushered in, finally ends. Speculation has been feverish at times involving a number of clubs’ rumoured targets, with Wednesday having been linked with a plethora of players.

For his part, Carvalhal’s overwhelming priority is on the here and now of the Championship and keeping his players fully focused, not adding to any transfer conjecture.

He commented: “I love my players and I love Sheffield Wednesday and we want to do our best.

“I have to put everybody’s feet on the floor. We must focus on fighting and running a lot to win the games and we must do it with honesty.

“Sometimes people talk too much and people think we can buy the best players in the competition and that is not the reality. It is the reality of other clubs and good for them.

“Our policies are completely different. We are workers and we go into every game to work hard. That is our way.”

Last six games: Bristol City LDLWLL Sheffield Wednesday WDDLWL.

Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).

Last time: Bristol City 4 Sheffield Wednesday 1; April 9, 2016; Championship.