Sheffield Wednesday are set to face another former player when they head to Preston North End tonight.
Sheffield Wednesday are in action for the final time in 2023 this evening, with a trip to Deepdale on the cards.
The Owls go into this one looking to avoid a third-straight defeat in the Championship after losing against Cardiff City at Hillsborough before Christmas, then away at Coventry City on Boxing Day.
The gap to safety has reopened to nine points but Danny Rohl will try to retain the positivity built after a string of wins in December.
Preston currently sit in 9th after a Boxing Day win over Leeds United, with a win tonight able to lift them into the top six.
Sheffield Wednesday set to face Jordan Storey tonight
Sheffield Wednesday went up against a former fan favourite in Mark McGuinness when they played Cardiff.
He too was a loan player at Wednesday who fans would’ve liked to see stay longer, and Storey is another.
He joined the Owls on loan for the second half of the 2021/22 campaign, featuring 21 times in League One and scoring twice before returning to Deepdale.
He played in all but two of the Lilywhites’ 46 Championship outings last season and has played 21 times in the league this season; he was rested on the bench against Leeds, suggesting that he’ll be fit and firing for tonight’s game.
Following Wednesday’s promotion from League One earlier this year, the Owls were tipped to make a return for Storey, though a move obviously never went through.
Former boss Darren Moore, who brought Storey to Hillsborough at the start of last year, described the 26-year-old as a ‘wonderful’ player.
What could’ve been this season
With Bambo Diaby set to miss tonight’s game through suspension, and indeed the next two, it really highlights a lack of quality at centre-back.
Rohl will have to bring in one of Akin Famewo of Michael Ihiekwe alongside Di’Shon Bernard, but having Storey, or at least a player with Storey’s capabilities this season, would’ve been a huge boost for the Owls.
He’s now shining in a Preston team eyeing up a top six finish in the Championship this season and it’s a credit to his impressive development over the past couple of seasons.
Wednesday fans saw his class and his traits as an all-round centre-back who can win tackles and aerial duels, but also move forward with the ball and start offensive plays.
It’s no surprise that Wednesday wanted him back in the summer but it always seemed like an ambitious move.
Expect centre-back to be one of the areas that Rohl looks at bolstering in January, though right now there seems to be other, more pressing areas in need of bodies, like in attack.
Tonight’s game kicks off at 7:45pm.