Both Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City want to worm their way in to the Championship's promotion race, and victory at Hillsborough for either on Tuesday will help them close in on the top eight.

The pair go into the match in ninth and 11th place respectively but still a fair distance from the playoffs, with Wednesday 10 shy and Birmingham 12 adrift of the top six.

The top eight from Bournemouth to Wolverhampton Wanderers have pulled away from the rest, and defeat for either Stuart Gray's Owls or Gary Rowett's Blues would put a serious dent in any outside chance that they have of squeezing into promotion contention.

Wednesday will have had a 10-day break by kickoff as they were narrowly beaten in the FA Cup third round by Premier League champions Manchester City, so weren't in action this weekend.

Since then, they have won one and lost one in the league, with their last match a 2-1 defeat at home to Bolton Wanderers.

The Owls' home form has been the main reason that they haven't been top-six challengers all season long - only bottom-four sides Rotherham United, Wigan Athletic, Millwall and Blackpool have worse home records this term.

However, they have beaten Birmingham the last two times the Blues have visited and scored seven goals in the process.

Will Keane could make his full debut after completing a loan switch from Manchester United. If he is to start, one of Stevie May and Atdhe Nuhiu will probably have to drop out. Sam Hutchinson, meanwhile, misses out through suspension.

While Wednesday have enjoyed a decent rest, Birmingham were in action at the weekend as they were knocked out of the Cup by nearby West Bromwich Albion of the Premier League.

Rowett only made two changes for the trip to The Hawthorns and Demarai Gray and Clayton Donaldson are expected to return to the starting XI for the trip to Sheffield.

Losing to the Baggies saw Birmingham's four-game unbeaten run come to an end as they suffered their first defeat of 2015.

The Blues have won three of their last four away games and their only defeat on the road since October was a surprising 1-0 loss at bottom side Blackpool at the start of December.

The reverse fixture went Wednesday's way as they came out on top 2-0 at St Andrew's.

Wednesday:

Form in Championship: LLWWWL
Form in all competitions: LWWLWL

Possible starting lineup: Westwood; Palmer, Loovens, Lees, Dielna; Maguire, Semedo, Lee, Maghoma; Keane, Nuhiu

Birmingham:

Form in Championship: WWLWWD
Form in all competitions: LWWWDL

Possible starting lineup: Randolph; Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds; Davis, Gleeson; Cotterill, Shinnie, Gray; Donaldson

Sports Mole says: 1-1