Brian Laws talks a good talk - I'll give him that but we have to counter that

<div id="contentmain"><div class="columnholder"><div id="column08"><div id="articlehead"></div><div id="viewarticle"><div class="headline" id="ds-headline"><h1>Laws banks on Chelsea effect</h1></div>

<div class="viewarticlepanel"><div class="multiimageon" id="MainMultiImage"><div id="MainImageDiv"></div><div id="ImageCaption">In the frame: Loan striker Ben Sahar is in line for his first start in Owls colours tomorrow</div><div class="offinline" id="ThumbDiv"><div class="thumb"><a href="javascript: ShowThumb(0);" /></div><div class="thumb"><a href="javascript: ShowThumb(1);" /></div><div class="thumb"><a href="javascript: ShowThumb(2);" /></div><div class="thumb2"><a href="javascript: ShowThumb(3);" /></div></div>
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</div></div><div class="off noprint" id="divGalleryLink">View Gallery</div></div></div><div class="byline" id="ds-byline">By Paul Thompson </div><div class="ds-firstpara" id="ds-firstpara">BRIAN Laws has set his team the target of catching Barnsley and turning the tables in the Championship survival fight.</div><div class="va-bodytext" id="va-bodytext">Wednesday are third from bottom but would cut the gap between themselves and their neighbours to only three points if they complete a hat-trick of South Yorkshire derby wins, at Oakwell tomorrow.

&quot;Barnsley are a good side; you can see why they've had a good FA Cup run, but now, I'm sure, they're going to be very wary of what's over their shoulder in the league,&quot; said the Owls manager.

&quot;They're not safe; they're a team who, I believe, we have to try to catch.

&quot;We want to put them under pressure and drag them into a situation where they don't want to be.&quot;

Laws also believes that the Reds' quarter-final against Chelsea a week on Saturday may be a factor - especially for men such as Oakwell midfield star Brian Howard, who will be banned for the cup match if he collects his 10th booking of the season tomorrow.

Said Laws: &quot;I've been in the big games; you can't get away from it when you've got a game like this coming up. Anyone who says you can switch off is telling a fib.

&quot;Your friends and family and talking about, the media are talking about it.

&quot;Brian Howard will be thinking very carefully now ... if he gets booked he'll miss the chelsea game. How important is that to him? We'll find out on Saturday.&quot;

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Wednesday, who are buoyed by having notched their first win in five league games, 1-0 against cup quarter-finalists Cardiff last week, have beaten Sheffield United 2-0 and Barnsley 1-0 in the other local derbies so far.

Laws watched the Reds' 0-0 home draw with QPR on Tuesday:

&quot;They maybe should have won the game in the first 15 minutes. They certainly attacked QPR early in the game. They had two glorious chances,&quot; he said.

&quot;You could see they had quality in the side. If you give them time and space, they can hurt you. I took away quite a few things on the game; I'll keep them to myself. Any weaknesses I did see, we'll try to play on them.&quot;

With Jermaine Johnson suspended, Laws is studying his options on the right wing.

&quot;The simple one would be to switch Wade Small ... that's something we are talking about. We are keeping our options close to our chest. It's a derby. I don't want to give too much away,&quot; he said.

&quot;We'll be going there to win. It's a vital game, a big derby.

Every game is a massive one for us, even more so when it's a derby.

&quot;We have to approach it in the right manner and make life uncomfortable for them.&quot;

If Small is moved to the opposite flank, then it could mean a recall for Burton O'Brien.

But with loan signing Ben Sahar from Chelsea having been blooded only as a sub against Cardiff, he may make a full debut this time.

That could mean Sahar being paired with fellow loan man Enoch Showunmi, and a switch back to the right flank for eight-goal top scorer Marcus Tudgay, who did an effective job in this position when the Owls were in peak form last spring.

Tommy Spurr looks set to return at left-back in place of Peter Gilbert after missing the Cardiff match through illness.

Steve Watson and Francis Jeffers have joined in training and are pencilled in for a private friendly next week, but hopes of an early return for Etienne Esajas have faded.

Laws added: &quot;It's been great to have Steve and Franny involved. We've missed them, because of their characters, their confidence and ability. There has been an uplift in training because the other players can see their quality.&quot;

With Lee Bullen on the t <div id="ds-mpu"></div>reatment table and Frankie Simek not yet ready, centre-half Richard Hinds looks to set to fill in at right-back tomorrow.

Laws admitted that he is considering a loan signing to boost full-back cover</div></div></div></div></div>