Stat Attack: Sheffield Wednesday v Notts County

Sheffield Wednesday have faced Notts County a total of 71 times throughout their history, going back as far as 1883, when the two faced off in the FA Cup.

The result? A resounding 4-1 win for the Magpies.

Since then, however, the Owls have had the better of things. They have won 32 of the games to County’s 22 victories, while 17 games were drawn.

Recent form against Wednesday is not so good. The last eight fixtures between the two teams have resulted in six wins for the Owls, with one draw and one defeat.

Wednesday are the fifth oldest club in the country, their conception taking place in 1867.

The Wednesday Cricket Club was founded in 1820 and soon became one of the pre-eminent cricket clubs in the Sheffield area. The Wednesday club was the direct forerunner of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.The founders of the Wednesday Cricket Club were local craftsmen whose weekly half day off was Wednesday.

At a general meeting held on, yes, Wednesday 4 September 1867, at the Adelphi Hotel, it was decided to form a football club from the membership of the Wednesday Cricket Club with the object of keeping together during the winter season the members of this cricket club.

Wednesday Cricket Club was subsequently disbanded in September 1924. The Club was simply known as "Wednesday" or "The Wednesday" until in June 1929 when the name was officially changed to Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday were originally known as “The Blades”, the name originally being a tribute to Sheffield’s cutlery industry in the 19th century, but this soon changed to The Owls.

There are two different accounts of Wednesday’s procurement of their current, longstanding nickname: the first suggests that, because they moved to the suburb of Owlerton, it made sense to be called “The Owls”, while the second hints at a Wednesday player, George Robertson, presenting the club with an owl mascot in 1912, and going on to win their next four games with the owl having been under the roof of the North stand in October

Their stadium was originally named Owlerton Stadium but in 1914 Owlerton became part of the parliamentary constituency of Hillsborough and the ground took on its current name.

Wednesday’s trophy haul over the years isn’t too shabby – they are four-time winners of the top-tier, three-time winners of the FA Cup, and last won a trophy back in 1991, when they claimed the League Cup.

The fastest shot ever recorded in the Premier League was hit by David Hirst against Arsenal at Highbury in September 1996 – Hirst hit the bar with a shot clocked at 114mph.

Famous fans include the Arctic Monkeys lads, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, politician David Blunkett, Lord Sebastian Coe, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, ex-England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, and Monty Python’s Michael Palin.

Wednesday's new striker Stevie May could be involved after completing his move from St Johnstone on Saturday for an undisclosed fee.

Jeremy Helan, Lewis Buxton and Caolan Lavery are unlikely to play because of injury, but fit-again Kamil Zayatte and Slovenian Dejan Kelhar hope to feature.

Notts County will be without Garry Thompson, who injured his knee on his debut against Preston on Saturday.

He joins midfielder pair Danny Haynes and Zeli Ismail on the sidelines.