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Opinion: Another Sheff Wed forward could be rested against Luton, questions over fitness

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It remains to be seen whether Garry Monk will hand Fernando Forestieri a second consecutive start in four days when Sheffield Wednesday lock horns with Luton Town, but the Owls boss may have a decision to make Connor Wickham too.

The 26-year-old joined Wednesday on loan at the end of January, having amassed only 243 minutes of football for Crystal Palace this season. Wickham made his third debut in the Owls’ 1-1 draw with Barnsley (February 8), playing 80 minutes at Oakwell, but Monk won’t want to overplay the striker.

He was injured between late-August and late-November this season, so he hasn’t featured a lot in the last few months. Wickham will need game time to build up his match fitness, but his track record for injuries means he needs to be managed correctly.

Monk isn’t short on options if he wants to rest the centre-forward, however. Forestieri, Atdhe Nuhiu, Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall are available, but the quartet only have eight goals between them this season while Steven Fletcher has 12 on his own, so Wednesday will be desperate to get him back.

How will Sheffield Wednesday fare against Luton Town?

Win

Draw

Lose

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.