This article is part of Football League World's 'Regular Punter' series, where we gather original opinions from select, passionate fans of the clubs concerned on matters surrounding their team and share them with a wider audience…

Sheffield Wednesday forward Fernando Forestieri featured for the Owls' under 23's side over the weekend, and was on the scoresheet as they Hull City 5-1 at the KCOM Stadium.

The 29-year-old hasn't been involved since he was banned for six matches after being found guilty of using racist language towards Mansfield Town's Krystian Pearce in July 2018.

But he could be in line to face Cardiff City on Friday evening, although competition for places is fierce in the Owls frontline this season under Garry Monk.

Football League World's Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit Thomas Fogg doesn't expect Forestieri to start against the Bluebirds though, and claims the forward wouldn't be fit enough to feature.

"I cannot see him (Forestieri) starting against Cardiff and I think that would be the right call. He will be nowhere near match-fit and was in poor form before the ban was in place.

"It is fair to say he wasn’t getting many minutes in that time but I would argue that he hasn’t done anything of note for over a year anyway. If he was to start, it would probably mean a shift to 4-4-2 with Forestieri partnering Fletcher up top."

The regular punter went on to admit that Forestieri could find it tough to recapture his best run of form in front of goal, which he has shown earlier in his career with the Owls.

The 29-year-old hit 15 league goals for Wednesday in the 2015/2016 season and he'll be keen to get back to his clinical best at the earliest of opportunities this season.

"It’s hard to have any faith that he will hit the heights of the 2015/16 & 2016/17 seasons (where he was top scorer twice) and his performances over the last 18 months to two years have been way short of that standard.

"A fit and firing Forestieri is one of the best players in the league in my opinion. He’s technically sound and has the ability to go past players for fun.

"His best position is on the left hand side of a front two/three where can find pockets in-between the defensive lines.

"Unfortunately for Forestieri, Kadeem Harris has had a great start to his Sheffield Wednesday career and has made the left wing spot his own so that really only leaves the second striker role available."

Fogg isn't getting ahead of himself ahead of Forestieri's return to the first team picture, and is hoping that he can play his part in Sheffield Wednesday's push for a top-six finish in the Championship this season.

But it seems as though it'll all depend on whether the tricky Italian attacker can keep his focus on letting the ball do the talking for Garry Monk's men.

"He is still a fan favourite and it would be unfair to totally write him off but I am loathe to get too excited about his impending return at this stage.

"If he comes back to the side with the right attitude, it’d be like a new signing and would give us a whole new dimension going forward.

"He used to have a great knack of luring defenders in and in-turn, providing space for others around him and if we can get that version of Forestieri back then a play off push may not be beyond us."

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