Talking Tactics | Swansea City v Sheffield Wednesday

22nd September
First team
Matt Grimes Cardiff

After two away Championship fixtures on the bounce Swansea return to the Swansea.com Stadium to face Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (3pm).

Ahead of the action, WhoScored.com preview the fixture, taking a look at what to expect from Xisco Muñoz's visitors, the key battle and a key stat.

What to expect from Sheffield Wednesday

Xisco Munoz

Xisco Muñoz was appointed manager of Sheffield Wednesday following their promotion to the Championship through the play-offs.

The Owls sealed their promotion in dramatic fashion, coming back from four goals down in the semi-final to win on penalties against Peterborough, and then scoring a 123rd-minute goal through Josh Windass to seal the win over Barnsley at Wembley in the final.

A new manager was not the only change in the summer for Sheffield Wednesday who strengthened their squad ahead of their Championship campaign.

They've welcomed the likes of Jeff Hendrick on loan from Newcastle - the midfielder spent last season at Reading - as well as winger Djeidi Gassama, who joined from PSG.

Goalkeeper Devis Vazquez also joined the Owls on loan from AC Milan and has featured six times already in the Championship this season.

They waved goodbye to Dennis Adeniran and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru with both youngsters leaving for European clubs on free transfers, on top of losing experience David Stockdale and Jack Hunt.

Sheffield Wednesday are yet to record a win in their latest stint in the Championship and have gained just two points from their opening seven fixtures, through draws against Leeds and Middlesbrough.

Key Battle

Matt Grimes after Bournemouth

The WhoScored.com match forecast has highlighted Sheffield Wednesday's difficulties staying onside this season.

The Yorkshire side have been caught offside more than any other team in the league (21) with the hosts ranked 17th with just 11. 

Swansea continued their tendency to have the greater share of the ball against QPR, and we can expect more of the same here. The Swans are averaging 54.1% possession in fixtures in the league this season, whilse Sheffield Wednesday have seen just 35.9%.

Matt Grimes is the Swansea player who has seen the most of the ball with a total of 661 touches already in the league, ranking him seventh of any player. The skipper is Swansea’s highest-rated player, according to WhoScored.com, of players to play more than 20 games since the start of last season with a rating of 6.80. As always for the Swans, he will be an important figure for the hosts.

Wednesday’s highest-rated player this season is Juan Delgado with a WhoScored.com rating of 6.71. He’s found the back of the net once this season and has played the most minutes of any Owls player this season. The Chilean is third highest among Wednesday players for total touches with 272, 389 less than Swansea skipper Grimes. However, this will be a case of who can do the most with the ball and that is the key battle in this match up.  

Key stat

Both sides are on the hunt for their first win of the campaign but this is a fixture that the home side has had the better of in recent years. Swansea have lost just once Sheffield Wednesday in their last 12 meetings in all competitions.