Sheffield Wednesday: The Owls’ crazy improvement stats as they tighten grip on automatic promotion places

Wednesday missed out on promotion last time out as they faltered in the play-offs, but there is a growing optimism that – even though there’s a long way to go – a top two finish this season is very possible after opening up a gap on Ipswich Town.

Moore’s Owls secured a hard-fought victory over Fleetwood Town on Saturday thanks to a goal from Marvin Johnson, and kept their 16th clean sheet of the campaign – just one short of the club record (17) despite having 19 matches left to play.

Lots has been said about the statistics surrounding the current campaign, however they become even more striking when compared to the same point in the 2021/22 season.

After 27 games, Wednesday have got more points (44/58), won more games (11/17), lost fewer games (5/3), scored more goals (38/47), conceded fewer goals (30/18), kept more clean sheets (9/16) and got a better goal difference (+8/+29) than last time out, and while it’ll mean nothing without promotion it shows several clear steps in the right direction.

Another stat worth looking at is the fact that Wednesday conceded 19 goals from set pieces in the league last season… This year, at just past halfway, they’ve conceded only three.

With top-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle not in action Wednesday will leapfrog them on Tuesday night if they beat Cheltenham Town, and fans will be desperate for them to do so by winning six league games on the spin for the first time since 2017.

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