Friday 15th December 2017 Sheffield Wednesday v Wolverhampton Wanderers Football – England – Championship The Championship is one of the most physically demanding leagues in Europe and it’s particularly so at this time with teams virtually playing at least two games a week for the whole month of December. That puts strain on even the biggest of squads so it’s rare that any team is able to go through the festive period without dropping some points. Two teams who will be hoping to limit the number of dropped points in the upcoming games meet on Friday evening in very different situations. Sheffield Wednesday are hovering around the bottom half whilst Wolves visit Hillsborough with a four point lead at the top of the table – plenty to play for 10 days before Christmas.
Wednesday have made the playoffs in the last two seasons, reaching the final at Wembley in 2016 before being knocked out at the semi final stage earlier this calendar year. Those exploits, alongside significant investment in the squad in the summer, have raised expectations amongst the support. At this point in time it is appearing more and more likely that Carlos Carvahal and his players are not able to meet those expectations following a very disappointing first half of the season. The Owls have managed only six wins from their 21 games thus far, losing the same number. It has been the amount of draws they have accumulated which sees them lurking at the wrong end of the table as opposed to where we have become more familiar in seeing them. Currently 15th, Wednesday are still well clear of the relegation zone and unlikely to be dragged into it anytime soon. That does not constitute anything like success nowadays, though, and a 10 point gap between themselves and sixth spot is without doubt the focus of their attention. There are rumours abound that the head coach has only a couple of games to save his job, starting with Friday’s game.
Wolves have been the standout team in the Championship thus far and have lit the league up with an exciting and effective brand of football under first year boss Nuno Espirito Santo. Wanderers have been top for a number of weeks now and although they are only four points clear of second placed Cardiff, they’re eight ahead in terms of the automatic promotion places. Saturday’s draw at home to lowly Sunderland was surprising as it was their first dropped points since October and ended a six game winning run. As alluded to above, it’s virtually a matter of when rather than if dropping points in December – but the good teams limit the damage. Wolves will now have to show that capacity when travelling to what is a difficult away venue in front of the Sky cameras. Their away form is good, however, and has been improving the more the season has went on. Four wins in their last five on the road are testament to that and conceding in just one of those five matches are evidence of how well balanced the team is when on their travels. Another clean sheet on Friday would go a long way to getting them back on the winning trail at the first time of asking.
Sheffield Wednesday v Wolverhampton Wanderers Betting Tip
Nobody would have predicted that there would be 21 points between Sheffield Wednesday and Wolves after the same number of games, at the start of the season. Wednesday were expected to be challenging for promotion once again following a couple of near misses but they have just not reached anything like the level they previously set for themselves. It’s now give games without a win, admittedly they have drawn four of those, and just two wins in their last 10 Championship games. There would be no better way to improve on that recent run by taking all three points off the league leaders.
Wolves have a plethora of talent within this squad, some of whom are playing at a lower level than they are capable of. Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves were playing in the Champions League 12 months ago but it’s Leo Bonatini who continues to grab most of the headlines as he leads the line in tremendous fashion. The Brazilian has scored 12 league goals already and five in his last seven, Santo will be well aware of just how important it will be in keeping him fit and firing.
Wolves are, and by some distance, the top scorers in this division and the blank against Sunderland was probably the biggest surprise – it’s only the third time they have failed to score in the league this season. Sheffield Wednesday do not lose many at home, however, and will try to be as stubborn as possible, making the best bet here for there to be under 2.5 goals in the game.
Under 2.5 goals 17/20 @ Marathon Bet
