Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk confirmed in his pre-match press conference that striker Steven Fletcher will feature against Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round tie on Wednesday night.
The Scotland international was taken off at half-time of the Owls’ game against Derby County at the weekend as a precaution, with the veteran centre forward recently returning from injury.
Monk cited Fletcher’s positive influence as a reason for the striker being rushed back into the Wednesday side.
“As I said before with Steven, a normal process would be to have a period of time in training and maybe some time in the 23s but with the influence he has, you want him in the team and getting as many minutes as possible,” The club’s twitter account quoted Monk as saying.
“Fletch will certainly be involved, whether it be from the bench or starting we’ll see but yes, he will be involved tomorrow,” he added.
Sheffield Wednesday will be without Connor Wickham and Josh Windass as the duo are cup-tied having featured for Crystal Palace and Wigan Athletic respectively in the competition earlier this season.
Wednesday head into the tie on the back of some poor form with just one win in their last nine games in the Championship.
This comes in sharp contrast to opponents City, who secured a third consecutive League Cup with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley on Sunday.
However, the FA Cup is highly unpredictable and Monk said that his side will not lie down for City.
“We’re going to play against the champions of England and we know the quality they have right throughout, one of the best sides in Europe with one of the best managers over the past 15 years. We have to get everything right at a very high level with no mistakes,” the Wednesday boss said.
“But we’re not going into it fearing those things, we need to understand the situations we will face and work through them. Our players are good enough to cause problems and compete but what we don’t want to do is self-inflict.
“We’ve earned the right with two very good performances away from home in this competition. It’s a big challenge, we’re not expected to win but it’s an opportunity to face one of the best and we’ll give it our best for sure.”
It certainly would be a huge shock for Wednesday to defy the odds and overcome a big-money City side.
However, the Owls supporters will be looking forward to seeing the side come up against one of the best teams in England, with anything possible should Pep Guardiola rotate his squad.
