Talking Tactics | Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City
Following the conclusion of the March international break, Swansea City travel to Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday on Good Friday (3pm).
Ahead of the clash, WhoScored.com preview the trip to face the Owls, looking at what to expect from Sheffield Wednesday, the key battle and a key stat.
What to expect from Sheffield Wednesday
Danny Rohl’s Sheffield Wednesday are looking to bounce back after suffering consecutive league defeats for the first time since late January.
Wednesday have really picked up their form since Rohl took over, winning five of their last eight games. Yet, they come into this game on the back of a 6-0 thumping away to Ipswich in their last fixture.
Despite a recent turnaround in form, the Owls still find themselves in the relegation zone, sitting in 23rd place with 38 points.
That said, it’s becoming more and more congested at the bottom end of the table and only three points separate 18th and 23rd.
The hosts have yet to settle on a formation this season and have adopted eight different starting formations across the campaign.
Most recently, Rohl has been adopting a 5-4-1 formation with Ike Ugbo spearheading the attack.
Ugbo has been flourishing of late for Sheffield Wednesday and has scored four goals and provided one assist in his last six league outings, including a double against Bristol City where he was also awarded the player of the match by WhoScored.com.
Sheffield Wednesday have shown a tendency to go long periods of play without the ball with an average of just 42.5 per cent of possession so far this season, ranking fourth-lowest in the Championship this campaign.
They continue to look to pounce on the counter, particularly at home, where they have scored three counter-attacking goals, a total that only Leeds (4) and Plymouth (7) can better.
Key Battle
The statistically-calculated WhoScored.com match forecast suggests it is 'likely' Swansea will dominate possession in S3.
The Swans rank 10th for average possession in the Championship this season with 52.7 per cent, well ahead of Sheffield Wednesday’s 42.9 per cent average.
WhoScored.com’s statistically-calculated match forecast also suggests the Owls could dominate in the air. The home side rank eighth-highest in the league for aerial duels won, averaging 16.7 per game.
Di’Shon Bernard has been the biggest aerial threat for Wednesday with the Jamaica defender totaling 76 aerial wins so far this season, the 36th highest tally of any Championship player.
Swansea boast their own towering talisman in Harry Darling, who ranks 12th in the league for aerial duels won, coming out on top in 111 of his 179, averaging 3.6 wins per game.
It is not just in the air that Darling has proven his abilities this season. The 24-year-old is the highest-rated player in the Swansea squad with a 6.84 rating and has picked up four player of the match awards for his efforts.
If it does become a battle of the aerial experts, Swansea can be confident that they are well-equipped with Darling on side.
Key Stat
Sheffield Wednesday are the league’s highest underperformers in terms of expected goals, conceding 6.63 more goals then their xG suggests they should have.
Similarly, at the other end of the pitch, that have scored just 30 goals from an xG figure of 41.68.
Only Stoke have a bigger negative differential (15.68).