Sheffield Wednesday travel to Southampton tonight hoping to erase the memory of Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Colchester with an away win.

The Owls will be wary of a wounded animal after handing out a 5-0 thrashing of the Saints at Hillsborough on November 10. Laws will expect a backlash but remains confident his team can return to form at St Mary's.

"Southampton will be smarting from the result at Hillsborough recently but they are a very good team on their day and I expect another open game at St Mary's," Laws said. "It will be a good game, we are plying our best football away from home and they will be aware of that,"

While Laws is aware a win could see his side push up the table once more, the Owls boss is also aware that a defeat would be detrimental.

"If you lose two games then you can end up down at the bottom in a scrap quite easily. There are some good teams at the foot of the division at the moment and I don't for one minute think that Crystal Palace, Norwich and QPR will be down there at the end of the season," he said.

The Wednesday manager can welcome back Frenchman Yoann Folly to his squad after the midfielder flew home on Saturday to visit his mother, who had been struck with illness.

However, there are concerns over the availability of defenders Michael Johnson and Frank Simek. Johnson pulled out of Saturday's match because of back spasms during the warm-up while Simek strained his knee during the game.

"We are taking Michael Johnson down to Southampton and see how things are going to be for him. He is improving but is probably 50/50 for the game," Laws stated. "We will give him a late fitness test and hopefully he will have a good chance to be involved.

"Frank Simek picked up a knee strain in the match with Colchester and he has had intensive work on that since Saturday. He will travel with the squad and have a late fitness test."

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