Team in Focus: Sheffield Wednesday - strengths, weaknesses and prospects

Sky Bet Championship

Hull 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Eaves 72

Hull City v Sheffield Wednesday match report

Hull's 1-0 win was harsh on Sheffield Wednesday, who had looked the more likely to win a tight game until substitute Tom Eaves's excellent long-range diving header settled this all-Yorkshire affair.

A mistake from referee Andy Davies, who awarded Wednesday a free kick rather than a penalty after Jacob Murphy was fouled inside the area, denied the visitors a deserved opportunity to level.

Kamil Grosicki later missed a glorious opportunity to double Hull's advantage as the Owls frantically attempted to chase the game and Adam Reach should have made them pay but blasted a glorious chance over in injury-time. Sam Winnall had headed a decent opportunity wide at 0-0.

The first half had been even with Wednesday on top for the opening exchanges - Barry Bannan had a shot tipped wide and Atdhe Nuhiu's effort was blocked - before Hull finished the stronger with wing wonders Grosicki and Jarrod Bowen heavily involved.

However, the Tigers had done little in the second half until Eaves broke the deadlock and opened his account for Hull.

Sheffield Wednesday tactics

Garry Monk went with a 4-4-2 formation and they looked to play up to Nuhui swiftly, without being a long-ball team.

They were a man short in the centre against Hull's 4-3-3 so there should have been space out wide, but Reach and Kadeem Harris were unable to offer much service for the strikers.

Sheffield Wednesday strengths

Bannan dictates play in midfield and there is plenty of experience in the side with Wednesday having the oldest squad in the division.

Moses Odubajo had a decent game at right-back on his return to Hull, supplying the cross from which Winnall could have broken the deadlock and also doing his best up against the tricky Grosicki.

Sheffield Wednesday weaknesses

Nuhiu does a solid job for the team in attack but they desperately missed five-goal top scorer Steven Fletcher, who was absent with a minor ankle injury.

Kadeem Harris is the only other player in the squad with more than one goal in this season's Sky Bet Championship and Fletcher's replacement Winnall has had a tough time since joining from Derby.

Sheffield Wednesday goalscorer bets

If anything this game enforced the opinion that Fletcher is Wednesday's most likely goalscorer.

Reach has scored in just two matches in 2019, Bannan sits deep and there was no obvious set-piece threat, so on this evidence it is a surprise to see only Leeds and Fulham averaging more shots on target in this season's Championship.

View from Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk

"We created the better chances. They never really made much of a move on our goal apart from when they scored and that’s what counts.

"They took the chance they created and we didn’t take ours, but it happens and we have to see it as a bump in the road. We made one mistake and they scored. It was a scrappy game and these things happen."

Sheffield Wednesday prospects

Monk's assessment was spot-on and had Fletcher been fit maybe it would have been a different story.

Wednesday look like a higher-end middle-third Championship team but probably won't be good enough for the playoffs.

How did Hull City play?

Hull are unbeaten in five games and have moved into mid-table, which is probably the limit of their abilities. Grosicki is a class act on the left and Bowen makes dangerous inward runs from the opposite flank.

Hull City v Sheffield Wednesday teams

Hull City 4-3-3: Long; Lichaj, Burke, De Wijs, Fleming; Honeyman (Batty 77), Stewart, Irvine; Bowen, Magennis (Eaves 66), Grosicki (Bowler 87).

Sheffield Wednesday 4-4-2: Westwood; Odubajo, Iorfa, Borner, Palmer; Reach, Hutchinson (78), Bannan, Harris (Murphy 59); Winnall (Rhodes 68), Nuhiu.

Next three fixtures

Hull: Huddersfield (a), QPR (h), Nottingham Forest (a).

Sheffield Wednesday:Wigan (h), Cardiff (a), Stoke (h).

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