Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs. Charlton Athletic

The FA Cup is guaranteed a Championship quarter-finalist as Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic prepare to meet in the fifth round this weekend.

Two clubs battling to avoid relegation to English football's third tier will move one game away from Wembley with victory at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon.

The spoils were shared between the Owls and Charlton when they met in the league in December, a draw which contributed to Wednesday's 11-match unbeaten streak, which Wigan Athletic ended on Tuesday.

Stuart Gray's appointment as manager has helped the Sheffield outfit turn their season around, but his side have only beaten teams playing in League Two on their run to this stage of the competition.

Wednesday have proved too much for Macclesfield Town and Rochdale in the previous rounds, while Charlton beat Oxford United at the second time of asking, and Championship rivals Huddersfield Town.

The Addicks are likely to name three of their foreign January recruits, Yohann Thuram, Astrit Ajdarevic and Reza Ghoochannejhad, in their startling lineup, but Dorian Dervite and Rhoys Wiggins are out.

Simon Church will probably have to make do with a place on the visiting bench, with Marvin Sordell partnering Ghoochannejhad, who has yet to open his Charlton account, in Chris Powell's attack.

Gray has revealed this week that Wednesday are trying to re-sign Sunderland striker Connor Wickham, who scored eight goals in 11 games during a loan spell with the Owls earlier in the season.

However, the England Under-21 international would be ineligible to play in the FA Cup, and therefore Chris Maguire and Atdhe Nuhiu should be retained up front. Reda Johnson remains sidelined. Midfielder Stephen McPhail is unavailable after leaving Hillsborugh this week to sign for Shamrock Rovers.

Recent form

Sheff Wed: LWWDWD

Charlton: LLLWWL

Possible starting lineups

Sheff Wed: Kirkland; Oshilaja, Semedo, Llera, Mattock; Palmer, Lee, Maghoma, Helen; Nuhiu, Maguire

Charlton: Thuram-Ulien; Evina, Morrison, Cousins, Wilson; Jackson, Poyet, Ajdarevic, Green; Sordell, Ghoochanneijhad

Sports Mole says: 2-0