England

Sheffield Wednesday Have Edge in Local Derby

Sheffield Wednesday have made a good start to life in the Championship this season, with three victories and two defeats from their first five games. Although beaten away at Preston at the weekend, this has been a good spell for The Owls. Attention must now change focus though for a short while to the EFL Cup, where they face League One club Rotherham, who are also a local rival, being just a short drive away.

Rotherham were relegated from the Championship last season and are now back in League One. They have only played three games so far, winning two of them as they have made a solid start to life in the division. However, as we saw from them last season, they are a team that cannot cut it out at the higher level, and that is going to pose a big question for them here when Sheffield Wednesday turn up.

As ever with the EFL Cup, much of the focus will be on team news and I expect both will rest players. My hope is that this cancels each other out really, although with Wednesday having a bigger squad, I think the more changes that are made, the more it will benefit them as they go deeper.

With this being a derby there is a little more than just a place in the next round of the EFL Cup at stake. This may tempt both managers into playing slightly stronger sides than they would normally do so at this stage in the competition, and that is certainly something to look out for. Wednesday have started the new season very well, and many of their regular players have been good in that period, should they play then they have quality that Rotherham cannot match.

Rotherham vs Sheffield Wednesday Betting Tips

I think Wednesday look good value here for the win and I am more than happy to back them. We have doubts surrounding team selection, but that is negated by the price on offer, which is far bigger than I was expecting. With more depth in their squad, Sheffield Wednesday can make a few changes whilst remaining competitive here, and if they choose to play a strong team and only make a couple of changes then that helps them even more.

This looks like being a tough one for Rotherham, and I am on the side of Sheffield Wednesday.