Sheffield Wednesday: It is a tough task selecting the team, concedes Carlos Carvalhal

Wednesday have plenty of competition for places in all departments. There are a minimum of two players per position.

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And the fight for a place in Carvalhal’s 18-man squad will only increase over the coming weeks, with Tom Lees and Gary Hooper “very, very close” to returning following injury lay-offs.

However, Owls head coach Carvalhal insists he welcomes a selection dilemma.

He said: “It is more hard to choose the 11 and much harder to choose the 18 but I want more problems. I want that everybody is ready. I want these kind of problems. We are more strong and with more confidence than in the past.”

Carvalhal is blessed with a plethora of options up front and Steven Fletcher could be involved against Blackburn Rovers tonight after serving a three-match suspension.

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“Strikers don’t win you games,” he stressed. “It is teams that win games. You must create a dynamic for the strikers to score.

“Football is like a puzzle where you must put the correct pieces together. The pieces must be connected and if everything is connected, you can win games.

“Even if you have two strikers who score 50 goals between them, you can’t get into the play-offs if you concede 45 or 50 goals.

“There are a lot of things you must balance to be with a good team.

“I’m happy with all my team. What is more important to me is they are doing a really good team work.”

Rovers will be without Lucas Joao, who is ineligible to play against his parent club.

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