Sheffield Wednesday 0 Sunderland 3: Highlights after Dan Ballard and Jack Clarke goals at Hillsborough

Here are our predicted line-ups for tonight’s match:

Predicted Sheffield Wednesday XI: Vasquez; Bernard, Iorfa, Famewo; Paterson, Byers, Bannan, Delgado; Buckley, Musaba; Windass

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Hume, O’Nien, Ballard, Huggins; Neil, Bellingham; Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke; Burstow

Wednesday boss Xisco Munoz has also come under pressure following a dismal start to the season, with calls from a section of the club’s fanbase for the Spaniard to be sacked.

The Owls lost 3-0 at Swansea last weekend, when some fans in the away end chanted and criticised The Owls’ style of football.

Asked about facing Sunderland, Munoz replied: “It’s a big challenge because it’s one team that last season was challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

“In our team, the half in our team was challenging for promotion to the Championship. It’s a big challenge, but I’m not afraid about that and there is no excuse.

“In the Championship we need to give a better performance. I’m not afraid of the situation. I believe in my squad, I believe in my players and I know they give 100 per cent.

“What is important for us is our stadium and we need to give more, but we need them now.

“We need to arrive more, we need to shoot more, we need to give more consistent performances but this is the solution, it’s what we try to find and this is what we want for Friday night.”

Since winning promotion from League One via the play-offs in May, Wednesday have endured several issues on and off the pitch, with Xisco Munoz’s side sitting bottom of the table with two points from eight games.

There are also more protests planned against owner Dejphon Chansiri ahead of tonight’s match, as there were during the side’s 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough earlier this month.

Chansiri has also released an explosive statement this morning amid supporter unrest with his running of the club.

To find out more we caught up with Wednesday reporter Alex Miller from our sister title The Sheffield Star on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen the full episode here

Here’s what he said when asked about how the team are likely to set up against Sunderland:

“Certainly in the early stages of the games against Southampton and Preston there was a clear effort to sort of sit deep and hit on the break a bit more.

“While Wednesday aren’t creating a great deal going forward that becomes a great frustration, and clearly the results show they haven’t had much joy with it.

“I would be inclined to say that would be the way that they go. They have been playing a sort of hybrid 3-4-2-1 formation with sort of two advanced midfielders behind a lone striker.

“The issue is the lone striker has just been isolated for the majority of play this season.”

Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray had to say about tonight’s match against Sheffield Wednesday:

“They are all tough games, whether you play teams at the top or teams at the bottom there are no easy games.

“They will be fighting for their lives really, fighting for every point. I saw the tennis ball demonstration against Middlesbrough.

“We have to go there and be really professional and impose our style of play on the game, but be mindful of the talented players they’ve got.”

“They’ve got threats, they are a physical side and we have to be mindful of their set-plays and threats they carry.”

We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.

Pierre Ekwah (dead leg) and Bradley Dack (hamstring) are both expected to miss tonight’s match, with Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray wary of rushing the pair back too soon.

Aji Alese (thigh) and Eliezer Mayenda (hamstring) have stepped up their recoveries at the Academy of Light but aren’t expected to be available until after October’s international break.

Dennis Cirkin remains out with a hamstring injury, while Jay Matete, Timothee Pembele and Corry Evans also remain sidelined.

Jewison Bennette has been absent due to an illness in recent weeks but could return to the squad.

Striker Nazariy Rusyn could make his first Sunderland start after coming off the bench to make his senior debut against Cardiff on Saturday.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

The Black Cats will be looking to bounce back following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat against Cardiff, a result which ended a run of three consecutive wins.

We’ll have all the build-up ahead of the match as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.

Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.