It would normally be tagged a classic 'six-pointer' as Sheffield Wednesday go head to head with Crystal Palace in a truly vital clash at Hillsborough on Sunday.

But when the Owls entertain the Eagles in the do-or-die battle for Coca-Cola Championship survival, four and not six will be the crucial points number.

In what should be a pulsating game set for live transmission on BBC TV, Wednesday must collect three points to retain their Championship status while one point from a drawn encounter will be sufficient for Palace to stay up.

If winning is a habit, as the age-old saying goes, then the portents are not good for Wednesday who have failed to win any of their last six matches.

Palace, on the other hand, have something of a drawing habit. Crucially, they have more away draws, 11, than any other club in the division and three of their last five outings - home and away - have ended in stalemate.

So that's simple - if the form book is followed then Palace, who are relegation candidates only because of the 10-point deduction they received due to going into administration in January, will get the result they want.

Simple? No way - the Championship doesn't do simple and Wednesday will step out at a packed Hillsborough aiming to tear that form book to shreds.

Manager Alan Irvine said: "We can win the game, although we'll have to play very well in order to do it. We can win any game in this division if we do our jobs properly and as long as we're clinical when we get our chances.

"We've not been clinical in front of goal in the last half-dozen games and that's cost us. But this is a one-off match between two teams who haven't won many games recently, so it's all about who deals with the occasion best."

Irvine would prefer to be in Palace's situation of needing only a draw but said: "If you set up to try to get a draw, you're going to hand the momentum to your opponent."

Palace boss Paul Hart, who like Irvine has been in his current job for only a short time, agrees. "It would be foolhardy to sit back and defend for 90 minutes," he said. "We've got to focus on trying to win the game.

"Since I've been at the club we've been more relaxed and composed in away games than we have been at home, so that's an encouragement for Sunday.

"The way we set up in away games works for us and we've got a strategy in the latter stages of closing the game down if that's what we need to do - but we'll definitely be going up to Hillsborough looking to win, and I believe we can do that."

Hart will be buoyed by the fact that Palace have one of the best away records in the Championship. Only five clubs have collected more points on the road, and the Eagles have gained as many away points as Wednesday have at home.

But for their 10-point deduction they would be comfortably in mid-table. Hart said: "The reason we're near the bottom is totally different to why Wednesday are there.

"But the fact is that we are there, and we can't think about what might have been. The players have handled the situation well and I've got great belief in them - and I know they'll give it absolutely everything they've got on Sunday."

Both Hart and Irvine inherited teams who were in danger of relegation when they arrived at their respective clubs earlier this year. And tomorrow one of them will have to bite the bitter pill.

For Irvine there will be some sorrow even if Wednesday emerge with their Championship status intact. He spent three of the best years of his playing career at Palace and said: "I'd rather it wasn't a former club of mine we were playing in this situation, a club where I was very happy.

"But there's no room for sentiment. I desperately want us to stay in this division - and the price of that is that Palace go down."

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