League One play-offs predicted by supercomputer as Sheffield Wednesday’s chances rated

Sheffield Wednesday begin their League One play-off campaign against Peterborough United on Friday night
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Sheffield Wednesday will aim to put the disappointment of missing out on an automatic promotion place behind them as they aim to go up via the League One play-offs.

The Owls finished on a record-breaking 96 points for a third-placed side as Plymouth Argyle ended the season with 101 points and the League One title with Ipswich Town taking second spot on 98 points.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now a two-legged semi-final tie with sixth-placed Peterborough United and a final against Barnsley or Bolton Wanderers stands between Darren Moore’s side and a return to the Championship.

Ahead of the fixture, data experts at FiveThirtyEight have rated every team’s probability of securing promotion via the play-offs.

Using their defensive and attacking ratings for each team, which are accumulated and based on seasonal performances, matches are simulated thousands of times to discover the likelihood of every team winning the play-offs.

The Owls have been given a 33 per cent chance, compared to 27 per cent for South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley. Bolton are rated at 23 per cent likely to earn promotion with Peterborough given a 17 per cent chance by the data experts.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As both Wednesday and the Post aim to secure promotion, neither manager is allowing themselves to worry too much about the opposition.

“We know what they’ve done this season but we know what we’ve done, in terms of the goals we’ve scored and records we’ve broken. You can lose your focus looking at other teams,” said Moore ahead of Friday’s meeting.

“We have all the stats and figures from the season but this is the play-offs. We’re keeping sure we’re focused on our progression as a team.”

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said: “They’re a good team to get to that amount of points, which any other season probably would have been enough for automatic promotion. We know what they’re all about but we’ve got to focus on ourselves.

“This is a different tournament. Everything that has gone on before is gone. It comes down to two games and we have to prepare to beat Sheffield Wednesday. There’ll be no talk of other teams.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.