Leicester vs Sheffield Wednesday Prediction: 6/1 Foxes to fire five or more against woeful Wednesday

Oh, Sheffield Wednesday. The Premier League founder members are now in dire straits as their new Championship season begins with a trip to Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on Sunday (16:30 BST, live on Sky Sports Football).

As the Foxes look to bounce back from last season’s relegation, they couldn’t have picked a softer landing than the EFL’s crisis club. My Leicester vs Sheffield Wednesday predictions, preview and match odds are going to be far from pretty.

Team News

This is a clash of two sides who have made little to no inroads on the transfer market this summer. While Wednesday have tied their own hands and feet behind their backs, Leicester have also been quiet.

New boss Marti Cifuentes has brought in his former QPR charge Asmir Begovic to help plug the gap left by the departures of goalkeepers Daniel Iversen and Danny Ward. Meanwhile Mads Hermansen is a target for West Ham United and could leave the King Power within days.

Elsewhere, the Foxes shouldn’t look too different to how they did for much of last season, save for Jamie Vardy’s exit and the inclusions of returning loanees Harry Souttar and Hamza Choudhury after both impressed at Sheffield United in 2024/25.

They are expected to line up with Jordan Ayew up top, flanked by Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu.

Football Odds

Wednesday’s new gaffer, Henrik Pedersen, will pretty much be in ‘Whoever’s fit plays’ mode. The Owls have only 16 players with senior experience left at the club.

They are even awaiting a late explanation from the EFL as to whether skipper Barry Bannan can be registered to play after he stunned the entire league by signing a new one-year contract.

Di’Shon Bernard continues his recovery from an ACL injury so will not be fit until October, while the likes of Liam Palmer, Charlie McNeill, Olaf Kobacki, Ike Ugbo and Jamal Lowe, who were all bit-parts last season, are now key members of the first XI.

Bailey Cadamarteri could start as the solo striker after spending last season on loan at League One Lincoln City.

Leicester vs Sheffield Wednesday Odds

The match result market is barely even worth looking at, with Leicester 1/7 for the win and Wednesday at 22/1. Even the draw is a massive 15/2.

There’s a real ‘take-your-pick’ feel about the anytime scorer market, with the top 16 players at the time of publishing being Foxes. The 7/1 available for Ayew to score two or more is a decent shot.

Given how little Wednesday are likely to have the ball, the card markets offer some interest. It is 11/2 with Betfred for the Owls to have at least one player sent off.

Leicester -4 @ 6/1

I just don’t see this going at all well for the visitors. They do have some familiar names in their starting XI, but beyond that the squad is one of the thinnest ever to be named in the Championship.

With no Bernard at the back, they are already threadbare there, and if Bannan cannot play on Sunday they are left with a midfield fashioned out of the injury-prone Nathaniel Chalobah, inconsistent Svante Ingelsson and ageing utility Liam Palmer.

Wednesday’s successes last season often came with their impact players off the bench, but the loss of pretty much all of their star talent will put paid to that.

And against a Foxes side filled with ex-Premier League quality, they ought to be blown out of the water here, especially given all the background noise which led to this game being under threat due to a potential walk-out.

Simply put, Leicester will have far, far too much for an under-prepared, under-strength squad which has had its mind on everything but football for the past three months, and the 6/1 for the home side to win by five or more is a tasty prospect.

Liam Palmer to receive a card @ 9/4

If there was one certainty about Sheffield Wednesday throughout the summer, it was that Liam Palmer would be one of the few players to stick it out.

With 462 appearances for the Owls, he is now sixth in the club’s all-time list, and begins his 17th season with the senior squad on Sunday.

But Palmer has often struggled to make a mark in competitive Wednesday teams, with just 69 of his starts for the club coming in the four seasons in which the Owls have finished in the top-half of the Championship (17 per season).

In tier-two campaigns where Wednesday have finished 13th or lower, he has been among the starters 173 times (29 per season), and he often comes across as a prime candidate for a cheap yellow card.

Many of his bookings over the years have been of the ‘professional’ type. Beaten for pace by a lively opponent, the former Scotland international is well known for making any sort of challenge to stop attacks.

Despite making only seven starts in 2024/25, Palmer was booked on three occasions, and in the previous term he was cautioned eight times in 25 starts.

The 9/4 at an implied probability of 30.8% is appealing when considering just how much defending Wednesday are likely to be doing, and the probable chasm between the two sides should bring about a fairly desperate approach from the threadbare visitors.

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