SHEFFIELD Wednesday could be without key midfielder George Byers when they welcome Wanderers to Hillsborough on Friday night.

The former Swansea City man was subbed half an hour into Saturday’s 1-0 win against Portsmouth, which moved the Owls three points clear at the top of League One.

Manager Darren Moore said the decision to bring Byers off the pitch was precautionary and that the club would be monitoring his fitness over the coming days.

“It was tightness,” he told Yorkshire Live. “I’ll give it a couple of days but, yeah, it was tightness and he just couldn’t get going.

“It was more precaution than anything, really, so we took him off.”

Wednesday will definitely be without defender Dominic Iorfa, who was sent off against Pompey for two bookable offences.

The club is unable to appeal referee Ben Toner’s decision as it was not a straight red but felt his initial booking was a case of mistaken identity.

Wing-back Marvin Johnson returns from suspension on Friday but defenders Ben Heneghan and Michael Ihiekwe (both knee injuries) and forwards Callum Paterson and Mallik Wilks (both muscular injuries) will miss the game.

Sheffield Wednesday have been on an incredible run of 22 games unbeaten, and have an enviable defensive record of 21 clean sheets from 34 fixtures.

The Owls have won 11 out of their last 12 and their last league defeat was all the way back in October, at Plymouth Argyle.