Owls Set For Triple Tonic

The Championship season may only be a matter of weeks old, but Brian Laws and his men are already facing one of the toughest weeks on the calendar.

The home clash with Nottingham Forest is followed hot-on-the-heels by the visit of Gareth Southgate's Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, and the small matter of the short trip to Bramall Lane a week on Friday follows.

It's not an easy week for the Owls, but should they come out of the trio with points to show for their efforts, it could set Wednesday up for a great season.

It may be early days, could it could be a season defining week.

Three tough matches, against three teams who are set to be up and around the top six places come the end of the season.

Although tough matches, they're teams boss Laws will be keen to get three points from should he want his men to be challenging at the right end of the table come May.

The Owls' relatively small squad will be pushed for the limits, with Laws already revealing that he'll have to chop and change his squad for all three matches.

He'll no doubt be going into the clash with Billy Davies' Forest with full steam, having enjoyed a week off for the international break.

The clash with the Blades is also high on the agenda for obvious reasons, so it could well be the Middlesbrough game that sees Laws make the majority of his changes - and it's far from ideal.

Maybe a home clash against Plymouth Arglye or Crystal Palace would have been more suited to the midweek as far as Wednesday are concerned - no disrespect to either club.

Or maybe the visit of Southgate's former Premier League stars could be just the tonic Laws and his troops need in such an important week - they will be more than up for a game against a team tipped to go straight back up by the bookmakers.

So what about the points return, six out of a possible nine, is that asking too much from the next three matches?

Clearly a point is required from the Steel City Derby to keep bragging rights in tact, and at least one victory from the two home clashes will be expected from Wednesdayites, so will four points suffice?

I expect it'll be a case of 'take each game as it comes' for Laws and co., and rightly so.

It's certainly going to be an interesting week or so at S6, lets just hope we come out of it with a healthy points return, and it could set us up for an impressive season...

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