What exactly are Sheffield Wednesday's chances of catching Wigan Athletic and gaining automatic promotion to the Championship?

The chase, as they say, is on.
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Sheffield Wednesday’s run of seven wins in eight has propelled them into the playoff places and high in form and full of confidence, the question among greedier supporters is; what if?

Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic have occupied the top two places in League One for several months now and the Millers in particular look destined for a thoroughly deserved return to the Championship.

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Sheffield Wednesday fans have grown in confidence as to the Owls' chances of promotion this season.Sheffield Wednesday fans have grown in confidence as to the Owls' chances of promotion this season.
Sheffield Wednesday fans have grown in confidence as to the Owls' chances of promotion this season.
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But it is Wednesday form and the promised return of big, big players to their 12-match run-in that has got Owls fans wondering if automatic promotion may still be possible.

It still looks a long shot but Wigan sit second, eight points ahead of fifth-placed Wednesday with a game more to play. In the last eight matches, Wednesday have topped the League One form table and have gained no fewer than seven points on the Latics.

But that says more about Wednesday’s form than Wigan’s, with Leam Richardson’s men having only lost two of their last eight matches.

Statistics compilers FiveThirtyEight have crunched the numbers around recent form, squad quality and remaining fixtures to give Wednesday a 10% chance of finishing second. They suggest there is a less than 1% chance of an Owls title and a 77% chance of playoff qualification.

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Even in leaner periods, in-form club captain Barry Bannan has always maintained that the club will achieve promotion this season. Whether that comes via the playoffs or the automatic places is no bother to him.

“We’ve never lost belief as a squad,” he said. “We’ve been unlucky at certain points of the season, we had big players out injured. But I’ve always said in every interview, even when we were 10th or 11th that we would be there or thereabouts. We’ve never lost belief.

“We’ve started to get the right players back, the fans are behind us, we’ve got momentum. It’s looking good.

“You always see teams coming in late and teams that have been in there all season falling away. There are still a lot of games to be played this season, there’s still a big job ahead of us but if we keep working how we have been working I’m quietly confident.”