Sheffield Wednesday are on course for a top-six finish, alongside Leeds United, Reading and Huddersfield Town.
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal
Sheffield Wednesday are on course for a top-six finish, alongside Leeds United, Reading and Huddersfield Town, but can the Owls go all the way this year?
Here’s three reasons they will…
1. Options
David Jones, Sam Winnall, Steven Fletcher and Callum McManaman were all left out of Tuesday’s starting lineup, while Tom Lees, Kieran Lee and Gary Hooper are still to return from injury. When things aren’t going to plan, Wednesday have more options than most to mix it up.
2. Experience
Wednesday’s squad is a who’s who of promotion veterans. Jones, Hooper, Almen Abdi, Jordan Rhodes, Ross Wallace, Daniel Pudil, Barry Bannan and Fernando Forestieri have all helped previous clubs into the Premier League, with most of their teammates featuring in past play-off campaigns. It could give them the edge this year, having gone close last term.
3. The best is yet to come…
Sheffield Wednesday’s Almen Abdi celebrates
Wednesday are six points clear of seventh place despite not playing particularly well overall. In only four league matches this season have the Owls won by a margin greater than one goal, and only once have they won by three. Should Carvalhal’s side hit their stride there could be little stopping them.
And three they won’t
1. …Or is it?
There is little suggest the above will actually happen, with another slow start costing the Owls Tuesday’s game against Brentford. Tiredness might well have been a factor, but you would struggle to tell based on the second-half onslaught they produced.
2. Questionable recruitment
Though the January arrivals of Rhodes, Winnall and McManaman made Wednesday the envy of many a Championship club, their summer business left a lot to be desired. Good players they may be but have the likes of Abdi, Jones, Fletcher and Adam Reach had the impacts expected of them? You would have to say no. Pudil has disappointed, Vincent Sasso continues to divide opinion and Urby Emanuelson (no appearances in six months at Hillsborough) remains a pointless addition.
3. Pressure
Sheffield Wednesday’s Jordan Rhodes celebrates
Installed as one of the favourites to go up at the start of the campaign, Wednesday reinforced that belief in January, when they agreed to pay more than £10 million (much of which will come off next season’s budget instead) on four new faces, of whom Rhodes, who’s scored more Championship goals (92) than anyone else since the start of 2012-13, was by far the most notable. With Huddersfield, Reading and Leeds all finishing in the bottom half last season, and on far tighter budgets this, the pressure if very much on Carvalhal’s Owls. The question is: can they handle it?
Who will be promoted from this season’s Championship – Wednesday, Leeds, Reading, Huddersfield, or other?
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