A crucial battle at the top end of the League One table will take place at Hillsborough on Saturday, as second-placed Sheffield Wednesday entertain leaders Plymouth Argyle.

The visitors currently lead their hosts by three points, having played a game more than the Owls, while the South Yorkshire outfit boast a five-point lead over third-placed Ipswich Town thanks to an eye-catching winning run.

Match preview

In the fight for automatic promotion to the Championship this season, Sheffield Wednesday find themselves in a particularly impressive run of League One form, having recently broken into the top two after remaining hot on the heels of Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town in the first half of the term.

Darren Moore's side have now gone unbeaten in their last 15 third-tier matches, dating back to their last meeting with Saturday's opponents as they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat on the South coast at the beginning of October, with the Owls winning five and drawing five of the following 10 league matches in the lead up to Christmas.

They then built on that run with five further victories on the bounce in League One, and six in all competitions, having firstly beaten Fleetwood Town and Port Vale before leapfrogging Ipswich with a 5-0 thrashing of Cambridge United after the turn of the year and advancing to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a memorable 2-1 victory over Premier League high-flyers Newcastle United at Hillsborough courtesy of a Josh Windass brace.

Having gained further momentum from that eye-catching triumph, the Owls would further strengthen their claim for a top-two finish with victories in their last two league outings following the Newcastle contest, beating Wycombe Wanderers and Fleetwood Town away and at home respectively, before the Owls again met the latter at Hillsborough in the FA Cup fourth round last weekend, settling for a draw on that occasion as a Josh Earl own goal drew them level and forced a replay.

Before they travel to the West coast for that replay on Tuesday, Moore's men will turn their attention back to the fight at the top of League One, and now leading third-placed Ipswich by four points and only trailing Plymouth by three, with a game in hand on each, they can move into pole position with what would be an 18th third-tier win of the season on Saturday.

They meet a Pilgrims side who will aim to extend their lead at the summit of the division, after making an important return to winning ways last time out in the midst of an unbeaten run of their own.

Steven Schumacher's men have called top spot home for the majority of the campaign thus far and have maintained that position with a streak of eight league matches without a defeat, with their total of three third-tier losses all season only matched by Saturday's hosts.

After four consecutive victories between mid-December and the turn of the year, to move onto 56 points from 25 outings, the Pilgrims were held to a goalless draw away at Bolton Wanderers, before maintaining their healthy lead over Ipswich Town in third spot as Bali Mumba drew them level at 1-1 in the dying minutes of their trip to Portman Road.

Nonetheless, back-to-back draws left Schumacher's men at risk of being caught up by the Owls, but they were quickly able to bounce back when they hosted Cheltenham Town in their last outing, as Dan Scarr, Ryan Hardie, Callum Wright and Sam Cosgrove all got on the scoresheet in a 4-2 victory at Home Park.

Having not been involved in the FA Cup or League One action over the weekend, Plymouth will now come into the clash at Hillsborough with more rest than their opponents and will aim to complete a double over the South Yorkshire outfit with the chance to stretch their cushion to six points at the top of the league.

Team News

Sheffield Wednesday will remain without defenders Ben Heneghan and Michael Ihiekwe due to injury, and after arriving on loan from Stoke City and making his first appearance off the bench against Fleetwood last week, Aden Flint will aim to break into the back three, potentially alongside Akin Famewo and Dominic Iorfa with Liam Palmer shifted out to a right wing-back role.

After spells on the sidelines of their own, key midfielders Barry Bannan and George Byers were also able to make substitute appearances in the cup tie, and Moore may look to call on them from the start at the weekend, with Dennis Adeniran and Will Vaulks also vying to keep their places in the engine room.

Josh Windass and Michael Smith will likely play key roles in the attack, with the former boasting 11 goals and five assists in all competitions this season and the latter having netted 10 goals in 28 appearances since arriving in the summer, and Lee Gregory, Mallik Wilks and Callum Paterson should battle for the final spot in the front line.

Steven Schumacher could be tempted to deploy an unchanged Plymouth starting XI after their 4-2 win last time out, although Sam Cosgrove will be vying to come back into the attack from the outset after netting his seventh league goal of the season off the bench against Cheltenham.

He faces plenty of competition, though, with Ryan Hardie bound to keep his place up front after taking his tally to nine for the season in England's third tier, while fellow attacker Niall Ennis missed the Cheltenham contest and could again be absent at the weekend.

Nigel Lonwijk will be fighting to earn his place back in the back three, after James Wilson, Dan Scarr and Macauley Gillesphey were preferred recently, while Sunderland loanee Jay Matete should again join Jordan Houghton in the engine room.

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Dawson; Iorfa, Flint, Famewo; Palmer, Bannan, Vaulks, Johnson; Windass; Smith, Wilks

Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Cooper; Wilson, Scarr, Lonwijk; Mumba, Houghton, Matete, T Wright; C Wright, Cosgrove, Hardie

We say: Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Plymouth Argyle

Both sides boast plenty of quality and find themselves in impressive runs of form, and they will also be keen to avoid a defeat which could be particularly harmful to their automatic promotion bid, leading us to see a share of the spoils as the most likely outcome in South Yorkshire.

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