Sheffield Wednesday: Glenn Loovens gears up for season-defining period

Carlos Carvalhal’s men go to Championship strugglers Bristol City tonight looking to bolster their promotion aspirations.

The Owls, who are boosted by the news that full-back Jack Hunt is fit again following a knee injury, are in action twice over the next four days and will play seven matches between now and the end of February.

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Loovens told The Star: “It’s a very busy month coming up. We have a lot of games so we have to make sure we put ourselves in a good position for the last couple of months.

“It is very important for us to keep picking up points and make sure we are in the mix.

“I think we will have a good idea of where we are going to be come the end of the season at the end of February.”

Wednesday, who have an injury concern over striker Gary Hooper, face a Robins side who have lost a club-record eight league matches in a row and slipped to fourth-from-bottom.

“These are often the most dangerous games,” said Loovens. “I still believe they have a good team.

“They have some good players and I think against teams fighting for their lives they are the most dangerous.

“We have to be 100 per cent focused. If we play to our ability, then we can win any game in this division.

“If we want to go up, we should be winning these games.”

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After an 11-day break, the Owls are only a point clear of South Yorkshire neighbours Barnsley in the battle to secure a top-six finish.

Loovens said: “We had a bit of a gap to our closest rivals below us but that has been closed now.

“Teams are keeping up the pressure but we don’t want to look too much at the league table. We have to take it game by game and focus on Bristol City.”

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