A forgotten Sheffield Wednesday player has recently been pictured in first-team training.
The run-in is upon us and for Sheffield Wednesday, it’s a huge one.
These final eight games are arguably more important than the final eight games of last season when the Owls went on to earn promotion from League One.
There seems to be a lot riding on Sheffield Wednesday securing their Championship status for another year; the future of Danny Rohl who is now wanted by Sunderland, and the future of a lot of key players too.
But there’s a handful of players looking likely to return for the final few weeks of the season.
Sheffield Wednesday injuries
Thankfully, Sheffield Wednesday haven’t had too many pressing injuries throughout the season.
One player who’s missed the bulk of this campaign is summer signing Juan Delgado who’s suffered with a hip injury.
Elsewhere, Callum Paterson and Josh Windass have both been sidelined for a few weeks, but both are back in first-team training ahead of the run-in.
And January signing Kristian Pedersen has also been pictured in first-team training at Sheffield Wednesday this week; the Dane joined on loan from Swansea City on deadline day and has since featured once.
He started at left-back in the 4-0 defeat vs Huddersfield Town and struggled, showing a lack of match fitness before picking up an injury which has sidelined him since.
Kristian Pedersen will have a point to prove to Danny Rohl
Rohl and the recruitment team at Hillsborough obviously spotted something in Pedersen which prompted them to bring him in.
But in the brief spell that we saw the 29-year-old in action, he failed to impress the Sheffield Wednesday fans.
He had only featured four times for Swansea during the first half of the campaign and it was clear that he was lack match fitness, making his subsequent injury unsurprising.
But he’s a vastly a experienced player at Championship level with 161 appearances in the second tier, largely during his four-year spell with Birmingham City.
What might be more interesting to Rohl as well is that Pedersen is a natural left-back; last time out vs Ipswich Town, Marvin Johnson started in that role but he struggled.
Johnson is more of a left wing-back and maybe his lack of defensive ability was exposed that game, though Pedersen, when fit, could be a better option if Rohl dons a back-four.
Pedersen could also play as a left-sided centre-back with Johnson further ahead in a wing-back position, opening yet more options for Rohl and Sheffield Wednesday in this final run-in.
Pedersen will certainly have a point to prove after a tough start to life in S6 and now that he’s back in training, he could have a chance to prove his worth in the coming fixtures.
Though the Dane won’t feature this weekend as the Owls host his parent club Swansea City.