Henrik Pedersen will have more than half an eye on our return to League One action on Saturday as he prepares his Wednesday squad for tonight’s EFL Cup tie at home to Sunderland under-21s.

We began our challenge in the cup with an understrength side winning at Salford in our last competitive game a fortnight ago, now we take on the Sunderland youngsters just days ahead of a big League One clash at Huddersfield on Saturday.

With Wednesday dropping to fourth place, having had our last two planned league matches postponed due to international call-ups, Pedersen will be wanting his side to keep up our own pressure near the top of the division as we prepare to tackle third-placed Huddersfield.

That is likely to see him fielding a mixture of squad and academy players this evening, with youngsters Kieran Morrison (Northern Ireland), Harry Gray (England under-19s) and Will Grainger (Wales under-19s in 0-0 draw with Ireland) also all involved in international matches yesterday.

Tonight’s game kicks off at 7pm.