Sheffield Wednesday vs Fulham Predictions

Garry Monk took Sheffield Wednesday to a victory in his first game in charge, but will he repeat the trick in this clash? The former Birmingham boss has made a bright start to life with the Owls, but this weekend brings a substantial test. Wednesday are at home to Fulham, with the Cottagers aiming to return to form and boost their own promotion aspirations.

Sheffield Wednesday have been a little hit and miss this season, but their winning start under Monk should be seen as a positive. The hosts need to maintain that momentum, but they are in for their toughest clash of the season. While we’ve seen some real highs from the Owls this season, they’ve yet to be really tested with a tough fixture. Their hardest game at this ground was their meeting with QPR, which they lost 2-1.

Fulham were able to make a fine start with three wins in four, but things are tailing off for Scott Parker and his men. The visitors make this trip having slumped to 11th place in the table, which doesn’t bode well for their top-two push. Parker has been told to take the Cottagers straight back up this season, so the pressure is on him to deliver. While it is still early, their winless run can’t go on much longer.

Fulham have failed to win their last four games, failing to keep a clean sheet in each of them. They have had little problem going forward – especially with Aleksandar Mitrovic already in great form – but at the back Parker’s men are lacking. The Cottagers have conceded in four of their last five Championship matches, while they have failed to keep a clean sheet across their away trips this term.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday showed their attacking talent with their 2-0 win at Huddersfield last week. They have scored in 84% of their league games this season, which includes all of their home clashes. They’ve now scored in eight straight home Championship clashes, a run which we expect them to extend in this clash with Fulham.

The only issue for Wednesday is that their defence has question marks hanging over it. They’ve picked up a couple of wins to nil against struggling teams, but the only two real playoff contenders they’ve faced both beat the Owls 2-1. Meanwhile, Fulham have scored in their last six in the league, with all of their last three seeing both teams score. That has us backing BTTS as our match tip for this clash.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk arrived at the perfect time, as he has never lost a Championship match against Fulham (P4 W1 D3 L0). We don’t expect that to change as the Cottagers chase back to back wins against Wednesday for the first time since the early 80s. With that in mind, a 1-1 draw is our correct score pick here.