Which formation should Sheffield Wednesday use if Championship football is to return this season?

The Owls have nine matches remaining in the season and Garry Monk has a decision to make over the system and formation he will plump for in an attempt to pull well clear of any lingering trouble.

Monk has chopped and changed in terms of both personnel and formation this season, his hand in many ways forced by injuries and suspensions to key players at key times. With injuries to the likes of Adam Reach and Massimo Luongo gone and players well-rested, it will be interested to see what the Owls boss sees as his best way forward.

A look into the data delivered by Wyscout, the analysis programme Wednesday use themselves, suggests that Wednesday’s most favoured formation this season is a 4-4-2, which has been played 42 per cent of the time. A 4-4-1-1 system has been utilised 25 per cent of the time, with 4-2-3-1 showcased five per cent.

The data suggests that 4-4-2 is the Owls’ most successful system going forward, offering 1.07 goals per 90 minutes with an xG of 1.13, compared with 0.79 goals per 90 and 1.01 xG in a 4-1-4-1.

Defensively, the 4-4-2 allows for only a similar quality of opposition chances – 0.88 xG compared with 0.87 xG in a 4-4-2 – though Wednesday concede almost twice as many goals per 90 in the former, shipping 0.89 goals compared with 0.57 with a holding midfielder.

Speaking on his tinkering after Wednesday’s most recent outing, a 5-0 defeat to Brentford in March, Monk said: “I have been forced to. If you look all the way up to Christmas, we were very consistent.

“If you look at my record with the teams that I have had, I have been consistent with selection but I feel like I have been forced into some situations to try and find a formula to try and find some sort of way of getting a result.”