The Bristol City weapon who should have Sheffield Wednesday sweating - Sheffield United couldn’t cope | OneFootball

Scott Twine will hope to replicate his performance against the Blades at Hillsborough this weekend

Bristol City have started the Gerhard Struber era in an extremely positive fashion, and they will hope that continues following the recent two-week international break.

The Robins are currently one of four sides who will defend an unbeaten Championship record upon the return of domestic action this weekend, having won and drawn two of their August encounters before making a return to the Steel City this weekend as they take on Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

After last season's run to the play-off semi-finals under Liam Manning, the appointment of Struber - who played a major role in FC Koln's return to the Bundesliga last term before being dismissed before the end of the season - generated plenty of excitement, and that has been backed up in the early weeks of the campaign with a number of pulsating and high-scoring encounters.

Unsurprisingly, one man within the City ranks has been instrumental to such fortunes, with Wednesday's cross-city rivals, Sheffield United, already seeing the damage Scott Twine is capable of causing at first hand.

The attacking midfielder has become one of the EFL's most efficient creators in recent seasons for the likes of Swindon Town and MK Dons in League Two and League One, with his performances at Stadium:MK in the 2022/23 campaign the catalyst towards his current Championship spell.

After a difficult one-and-a-half year period after moving to Burnley under Vincent Kompany and during an underwhelming loan stint with Hull City in the first half of the 2023/24 campaign, Twine has rekindled his creative spark and clearly found a long-term home in BS3.

A key factor, of course, was his pre-existing relationship with the aforementioned Manning, although his numbers - a total of seven goals and just three assists - wouldn't exactly justify his £3.2m permanent price tag last summer despite City's eventual top-six finish.

However, in a new 3-4-2-1 system, Struber is well and truly reaping the rewards in the early weeks of the current campaign, with the 26-year-old an integral reason behind City's strong start and the nine goals scored thus far - a number only bettered by Coventry City's tally of 14.

Indeed, Twine's opening-day performance at Bramall Lane lit the blue touchpaper for what has followed in the subsequent encounters, with Ruben Selles' new side powerless when it came to thwarting the Robins' creator-in-chief, as he netted his first two goals of the season - including a sublime free-kick - either side of his assist for Ross McCrorie's 24th-minute strike.

The playmaker also impressed on the road in the Robins' 1-1 draw against Derby County, finding acres of space after bursting into the box to fire a low drive past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.

Unsurprisingly, with a player of such strong technical ability and vision, Struber's outfit rank joint-fifth alongside Coventry when it comes to big chances created (10), and his creative and goalscoring strength, on top of the likes of McCrorie, Anis Mehmeti and summer signing, Emil Riis, has seen City overperform their xG by a total of 2.7.

Sheffield Wednesday will hope to succeed where their Steel City rivals failed

Given the current predicament at Hillsborough, it's also no surprise that the result of this second-tier clash is already being viewed as an 'away banker', although to their credit, Henrik Pedersen's side have remained competitive in the vast majority of their outings thus far amid well-documented challenges on and off the field.

The Owls boss is extremely restricted when it comes to squad depth and quality, meaning that, as the game progresses, Twine will no doubt hope to take advantage of tiring bodies within the home side.

Twine's personal record against the South Yorkshire side will also likely extra motivation, with the midfielder yet to taste victory over Wednesday in five previous apperances, despite being a scourge of sorts against them, registering three goals and a further two assists.