The 4 players set to miss Leyton Orient v Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

All the latest team news ahead of Leyton Orient's game against Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of the League One season.

Leyton Orient take on Sheffield Wednesday at the BetWright Stadium on Saturday as the new League One season gets underway.

It was a campaign to forget for Leyton Orient last season as they only narrowly avoided relegation, and despite securing survival, manager Richie Wellens hit out at his players on the final day, describing them as a "weak group" who had served up "rubbish" for supporters on a weekly basis and "wasted" a year of his managerial career.

After his damning comments, Wellens has overseen an overhaul of his squad this summer, bringing in the likes of Nathan Baxter, Alfie Gilchrist, Isaac Hayden, Armando Dobra, Yusuf Akhamrich and Jaze Kabia, but the O's have lost top scorer Dom Ballard, who departed for Championship side Bristol City for a fee of around £5 million after netting 23 goals last season.

Sheffield Wednesday will also be looking to put last season behind them after a nightmare campaign that saw them suffer relegation from the Championship and spend over six months in administration, but a new era is underway at Hillsborough following the takeover by David Storch's Arise Capital Partners consortium.

The Owls have kept faith with manager Henrik Pedersen, but there has been a significant rebuild of the squad, with 13 new signings arriving so far this summer, including Joe Lumley, Ricardo Santos, Billy Mitchell, Barry Bannan, Louie Barry, Harry Gray and Mason Burstow.

As the countdown to kick-off continues, we looked at which Leyton Orient and Sheffield Wednesday players are set to miss Saturday's game.

Will Forrester - Leyton Orient

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Leyton Orient made a strong start to the season with a 2-0 win over Oxford United in the Carabao Cup last weekend, but they were without captain Will Forrester for the game at the BetWright Stadium.

Forrester joined the O's from Bolton Wanderers in January before being handed the captain's armband the following month, and he scored one goal in 17 appearances in the second half of last season to help his side to safety.

The 25-year-old is set to miss the start of the new League One season with a hamstring injury, which Wellens described last week as a "little issue", but aside from that, it appears Orient have no other fitness concerns.

Di'Shon Bernard - Sheffield Wednesday

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Sheffield Wednesday has been without defender Di'Shon Bernard since he suffered a serious knee injury in the defeat at West Bromwich Albion back in February 2025, with the issue causing him to spend the entirety of last season on the sidelines.

Bernard has returned to training this summer, much to the delight of Owls supporters, but he was not in the squad for the 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last weekend, and it seems he will be carefully managed back to fitness after his lengthy absence.

In the latest update on Bernard's situation, Pedersen revealed that the 25-year-old is progressing "really well", but he is not expected to be able to feature for the Under-21s until mid-September, which suggests it may still be some time before he makes his first-team return.

Cole McGhee - Sheffield Wednesday

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Sheffield Wednesday's off-field turmoil left them with a threadbare squad in the Championship last season, but it did at least mean that a number of youngsters were given opportunities at senior level, and defender Cole McGhee was one of the main beneficiaries.

McGhee made 13 appearances for the Owls in all competitions last season, often acquitting himself well in difficult circumstances, and he would have been hoping to kick on and cement himself in the first-team in the upcoming campaign.

However, McGhee was forced off in Wednesday's pre-season friendly at Accrington Stanley earlier this month with his arm in a sling, and Pedersen confirmed that he will need surgery to resolve the problem, which could rule him out for around four months.

Billy Mitchell - Sheffield Wednesday

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Billy Mitchell made 30 appearances for Millwall last season as they finished third in the Championship, so it was something of a surprise to see the midfielder drop down to League One with Sheffield Wednesday this summer.

The 25-year-old had spent his entire career to date with the Lions after coming through the club's academy, but he reportedly rejected three contract offers at The Den in order to become part of the Owls' exciting new chapter.

However, Mitchell was absent for the cup victory over Bolton last weekend after picking up a minor injury in the final pre-season game against Oldham Athletic, and while Pedersen did not put a timeline on his return, the Dane predicted he would be back "very strong" in the "next weeks".