Sheffield Wednesday vs Watford Prediction: 6/1 Windass to boost Wednesday

Watford will be out to break a run of five successive away Championship defeats when they meet an inconsistent Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

The Owls are coming off a penalty exit to Brentford in the Carabao Cup, with a win, a draw and a defeat in their preceding league fixtures. Here are my Sheffield Wednesday vs Watford predictions, along with full preview and odds.

Team News

Wednesday will make plenty of changes once again having switched out nine of their regular XI for the trip to Brentford in midweek.

Only Max Lowe and Anthony Musaba retained their places for the shootout defeat, but the cavalry will be recalled by Danny Rohl for Watford’s visit to Hillsborough.

There is an enforced change from the 2-1 win at Portsmouth last Friday due to the thigh injury picked up by Akin Famewo which will rule the defender out for a period of months.

Dominic Iorfa came back into the fold after injury to replace Famewo at Fratton Park and he started for the first time since August at Brentford.

Elsewhere, Michael Smith and Josh Windass should both return to the line-up, while Djeidi Gassama could retain his shirt after scoring a stunning equaliser on Tuesday.

Michael Ihiekwe is close to contention, while Nathaniel Chalobah remains unavailable following a knock picked up at Grimsby Town in August.

Watford boss Tom Cleverley has promised to make full use of his squad in the coming week as the Hornets gear up for three games in quick succession.

“Come the end of the next week I’m sure we will have used 17 or 18 players in a starting capacity,” said the former midfielder. “Maybe as many as 20 playing some sort of minutes in the three games.

“The squad need to understand we will need numbers over the next week. Everyone has to be ready.”

Tom Dele-Bashiru and Jeremy Ngakia will not be among those travelling to South Yorkshire as both are still nursing injuries.

Matt Pollock will be available despite injury an elbow in the 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers last time out.

Sheffield Wednesday vs Watford Odds

Considering Watford’s horrific away record of late, it will come as no surprise that they are the outsiders here. Betfred have them at 13/5 to win in S6, with the draw available at the same price.

Wednesday are 1/1 to get a third home win of 2024/25, with both teams to score priced at 8/11 which implies a 57.9% probability.

Sheff Wed and under 2.5 goals @ 16/5

I’ve been here before. Rocking up to Hillsborough, season ticket in hand, thinking Wednesday have a great chance of beating Watford.

Obviously, there has been a mixed bag of results over the years, not least back in January when the two sides drew a blank in a largely-forgettable game of football best remembered for Ben Hamer’s desperate goal-line stop to deny Di’Shon Bernard which effectively earned the veteran keeper a contract with Wednesday this season.

The Wednesday-Watford law is that nothing can be taken for granted.

And yet… The Hornets’ abysmal record away from home gives me more confidence than ever in the Owls, particularly given an upturn in belief among Wednesday fans off the back of a great comeback win at Portsmouth and then an excellent showing away to Premier League Brentford.

That’s not exactly groundbreaking form, but a big week at home against Watford and then Norwich City could place Wednesday favourably in the Championship table heading into next weekend’s first Sheffield derby in six seasons.

Don’t get me wrong, this might not be a classic. But Wednesday have largely defended better of late and have dangerous attackers starting to finally look like they remember where the goal is.

So I can see a 1-0 or 2-0 win for Wednesday, and at 16/5 for the double chance, that’s well worth backing.

Football Odds

Josh Windass first goalscorer @ 6/1

The man of the moment in the 123rd minute at Wembley two seasons ago. The scorer three goals in three games as Wednesday won the final trio of fixtures to clinch safety back in May. Josh Windass has played a huge part in the club’s modern history.

One thing he hasn’t always delivered is consistent goals across a season, but his cool finish to level the scores at Portsmouth last week showed that he will never lose his confidence.

And I’m backing him to deliver again here. The rise of Michael Smith of late has led to Wednesday having that bit more territory at times, and Windass is certainly a player who can make the most of that.

This was proven with Smith’s assist for the number 11 against Pompey, but you can see it in many areas in the opposition half, not in the area alone.

I was initially going to back Windass to score anytime at 2/1, but the value of the 6/1 for first goal is just too tempting in what I suspect will not be a game full of them.

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