Form of bottom four teams speaks for itself
When Darren Moore took charge of Sheffield Wednesday at the beginning of March, the odds were against them staying in the Championship this season. Three defeats in his first three games, including a demoralising late home loss to relegation rivals Rotherham United, made the quest for survival even more unlikely. After those three games, Wednesday had eleven games remaining and were eleven points behind Derby County with a game in hand and four points behind Rotherham, who had played three matches less than the Owls.
In the ten games the Owls have played since then, they have picked up twelve points – it is barely believable that this has been enough to give them a chance of survival going into the final game of the season and highlights the complete lack of form of the teams hoping that they can be the one to avoid the drop to League One on Saturday.
Derby have managed just four points from their last nine games and have lost their last five matches. Rotherham meanwhile have collected nine points from thirteen games over the same period.
In fact, bottom of the table Wycombe are the only team in the bottom four that have shown any signs of fighting form of late. They have picked up 14 points from their last nine games but a much worse goal difference than the clubs they are chasing means they are unlikely to have any chance of staying up on Saturday.
The Owls travel to Derby on Saturday knowing that only a win will give them a chance of staying in the Championship but Wednesday have the worst away record in the division this season, having won just four of their twenty-two matches on the road. Derby’s home record doesn’t make the much better reading however, only one team in the Championship has managed to win less matches on their home patch in 2020-21.
Even if the Owls can find a rare away win, they must also rely on Rotherham failing to win at Cardiff City, though that in itself will be a tough tasks for the Millers as Cardiff are unbeaten in their last five matches – since suffering a heavy defeat against Wednesday.