Troy Deeney reveals score prediction for Leicester City v Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

There's a heavy favourite heading into this battle at the King Power Stadium.

Sheffield Wednesday may be met with a 2025/26 Championship baptism of fire on Sunday as they take on Leicester City.

A much weakened Owls squad that has just 24 players, including a whole load of youngsters with no first-team experience, are about up against Marti Cifuentes' Foxes. They have an exciting manager and, largely, have kept the team that they had in the Premier League last time out.

One of the biggest worries that Wednesday face heading into the weekend is the availability of their captain, Barry Bannan. Not because of any fitness issues or illness; the embargoes that have been placed on the club, because of their various breaches of EFL financial rules around payment of players, staff and fees to other clubs, have limited their ability to sign players.

Up until last Saturday, Bannan, whose Wednesday contract expired this summer, wasn't an official member of the club. He penned a new deal in time for the start of the season, but there isn't much clarity on whether that will allow him to play, given the registration restrictions that Wednesday are under.

Their new manager, Henrik Pedersen, said in midweek that he was unsure about the Scottish midfielder's availability for the trip to the King Power Stadium, but a subsequent report from The Star said that there was growing optimism that the 35-year-old would be able to play. Any confirmation on that is yet to come, at the time of writing.

Because of the limited squad that Pedersen will be working with, even if the skipper is allowed to feature, means that Troy Deeney sees nothing but an emphatic win for the home side in the Championship's only match on the lord's day.

"I think Leicester versus Sheffield Wednesday is an intriguing game," said the player turned pundit on his TikTok account. "I think Leicester should win very comfortably.

"Sheffield Wednesday, they're losing all their players to the financial restraints, and all the punishments that have been dished out. The manager has just left. I think that this is going to be 4-0 to Leicester."

Sheffield Wednesday are in for a long season

There was some uncertainty around whether the game would go ahead, but Bannan revealed that him and his teammates decided to go ahead with the game after boycotting their final pre-season friendly against Burnley due to the lack of payment they have received over the last few months.

Thankfully, the situation is going to be at least temporarily resolved, as The Star has reported that the solidarity money that the Owls will receive from the Premier League should be used to pay off all of their outstanding debts to their employees and to other clubs.

This may not lead to long-term financial security for the club, though, who are going to struggle to bolster their squad. Wednesday are banned from paying fees on transfers or loan deals until the summer of 2027 because of the late payment of their players and other bills, which surpassed more than 30 days over the last 365 days at the time of the sanction.

With that in mind, if Deeney's prediction is even close to being correct, it could just be a sign of things to come for the Owls over the course of the campaign.