Sheffield Wednesday receive Dominic Iorfa boost ahead of Sheffield United | OneFootball

The defender is set to be available for the first Steel City derby in over half a decade.

Sheffield Wednesday will have Dominic Iorfa available for this weekend's Steel City derby against Sheffield United after suffering a health scare in their midweek win over Norwich City.

The Owls well and truly responded to the thumping that they received at home against Watford on Saturday. They put an injury-ridden Norwich side to the sword, and took a pretty comfortable 2-0 victory, giving them a bit of momentum heading into this weekend's derby.

Manager Danny Rohl said that it was a: "Great reaction," from his team after the embarrassing 6-2 defeat in their previous fixture. The win over Norwich extended a long unbeaten streak for Wednesday that spans back more than three years. According to Sky Bet, they haven't lost a midweek league game at home since April 2021.

Wednesday have a few injury woes that they are currently having to deal with. Akin Famewo, Nathaniel Chalobah, Michael Ihiekwe and Olaf Kobacki were all expected to miss the derby this weekend already. Their fitness issues were seemingly worsened last night when Iorfa went off just over 10 minutes into the second half with a facial injury.

As it turned out, there wasn't so much of a need for concern about the 29-year-old's health.

Dominic Iorfa survives injury scare ahead of Steel City derby

The centre-back is expected to be available for this weekend. There was initial concern from the player as soon as he was taken off about whether the issue could keep him out of the derby, but he was quickly assured by Wednesday's medical staff that he would be okay to play on Saturday lunchtime.

Speaking to the media after the solid midweek victory, the defender said, via Joe Crann: "I said to the Doc and Antonio [Quintela, club physio], ‘Will this affect my chances for the weekend?’ And they were clear that it won’t.

"Obviously it’s a big game this weekend. Everyone’s looking forward to it, and as players these are the games you want to be involved in...

"It's bragging rights; it's a game that everyone does look forward to. It's such a good game for the city. The players, the fans - we all look forward to it.

"It's everywhere you go. I went to the coffee shop the other day and it was 'Ah, it's the derby. It's the derby game.' You can't help it, everywhere you go people are bringing it up to you. So, even though you're focused on the game today, it's hard to not think about it as well because, as I said, you get stopped in the street and everyone is mentioning the derby game."

Dominic Iorfa being fit for Sheffield United game is great for all

There is almost no better feeling than beating your arch nemesis; only winning trophies and promotions can compare to it. There's a euphoria that comes with it that is just hard to replicate, and that's why these games are so anticipated.

But, if you are going to topple your rivals, you don't want them to have any excuse. You don't want them to say 'Well if we had all our players then we'd have beaten you.'

Injuries are unavoidable in all sports, so it's rare that you will ever have a fully fit team, but it's great for this weekend's game that Iorfa, who is a key component of the Owls' defence, will be available.

Blades supporters would almost certainly rather have it the other way, but his presence would make a victory for them all the more sweet because it won't have been against a depleted Wednesday side.