Nottingham Forest ‘to make it as difficult as possible’ for Sheffield Wednesday, says Martin O’Neill

Both sides’ hopes of creeping into the Championship play-offs suffered a blow on Saturday, with Forest losing at Rotherham United and Aston Villa striking late to defeat the Owls.

And, with time running out to get into the top six, the three points on offer tonight (Tuesday) could breathe fresh life into the winner’s play-off bid with five games to go.

“It is good to have the game so quickly as you don’t have time to dwell on it,” said O’Neill.

“There is no point in passing a game like Rotherham over, you have to see what has happened during the course of the game, see how you can deal with it then move on.

“You have to bleed a little bit before you can look to the next game, so hopefully we have bled a little bit and we are ready for the match.

“They are really important games, big matches for us and there might be a reason why we haven’t won back-to-back games since September time. We have got to be stronger.”

And added: “Sheffield Wednesday are on a very fine run but lost to two late goals against Aston Villa on Saturday. They are a decent footballing side and Steve Bruce has done very well to get them going, it is a big club so it will be a difficult game for us.

“We know that anyway but it is really up to us to make it as difficult for them as possible.”