Sheffield Wednesday take on Cardiff City in the Championship on Saturday, as the EFL makes a return after two weeks off.
The November international break is coming to an end. Championship football will return this weekend and for Sheffield Wednesday, it’s a return to Hillsborough.
Last time out, Danny Rohl watched on as Sheffield Wednesday lost against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, with the defeat leaving the Owls in 15th place of the Championship table.
Cardiff City meanwhile sit in 22nd. The Bluebirds have had an interim manager in place for two months now with Omer Riza the man currently in the dugout.
His side are just three points behind the Owls after a strong run of form in October, losing none of their five games of the month and winning three.
Who is the referee for Sheffield Wednesday vs Cardiff City?
Per the official EFL website, Andrew Kitchen is the referee for the game at Hillsborough on Saturday. His assistants are Shaun Hudson and Carl Fitch-Jackson, with Martin Coy the Fourth Official.
Kitchen has only ever refereed one Sheffield Wednesday game: a 3-0 win in League One away at Morecambe in September 2022.
But he’s overseen four Cardiff City games now, and the Bluebirds have won three of them with the last being a thumping 5-0 win over Plymouth Argyle in October.
Last season, Kitchen oversaw three Cardiff games: a 2-1 win against QPR, a 1-0 win against Millwall, and a 5-2 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
In the five games that Kitchen has either officiated Cardiff City or Sheffield Wednesday, there’s been 19 goals, or close to an average of four goals-per-game, so we can expect some goals on Saturday afternoon.
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Andrew Kitchen involved in Cardiff City vs Plymouth Argyle controversy
Cardiff were beating Plymouth 2-0 when Wayne Rooney’s Pilgrims saw Ibrahim Cissoko shown a straight red card in the 41st minute.
Cissoko was on the floor, the whistle had blown and Cardiff defender Perry Ng shot the ball at Cissoko who got up and pushed Ng to the ground.
Kitchen showed Cissoko the straight red card and Ng a yellow card. Rooney, who was in the stands for that game after picking up a red card in the game before, told the press: “He [Cissoko] has reacted – the player has been quite clever and very dangerous, I feel.
“He [Ng] has kicked the ball at Ibs on purpose. That could have been a different colour card to what he got.”
In nine games this season Kitchen has shown 40 yellow cards and just the one red.