This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Sheffield Wednesday go into today’s game occupying a playoff spot in fifth position as they look to continue their hot streak under Garry Monk.
The Owls have lost just one game since the 40-year-old took charge at the start of September, going on to pick up 14 points from a possible 24.
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That’s pretty good going considering the position they find themselves in and the fact that Monk inherited this squad from his previous incumbents Steve Bruce and caretaker boss Lee Bullen.
But now he faces a dreaded dilemma over team selection.
On the Chalkboard
Club captain Tom Lees returned from injury this week and took a full part in training, meaning he should be available for the trip across the Lancashire border to Blackburn Rovers.
In his absence, Wednesday have kept four clean sheets in eight matches, so will the 28-year-old even earn an instant recall to the starting line up?
It remains to be seen whether or not Julian Borner earns his place back having withdrawn late in the warm-up against Leeds United last time out, so there is an argument to be made on why Lees should return in that sense.
But Sam Hutchinson stepped up to the plate superbly, as shown by this article here, so he has every chance of keeping his place at centre-back.
There’s also Dominic Iorfa, who has become a solid option in the heart of the defence, which fans seem to agree with having praised his performances on more than one occasion this season.
Monk doesn’t exactly need to change things up in his backline as they have kept two clean sheets in their last three matches.
But the return of his influential skipper gives him plenty of food for thought going into this game.
Hutchinson (2.1) and Iorfa (1.8) both have averaged more tackles per game than the former England U21 international (0.8) while Borner outscores him for both clearances (4.5) and interceptions (1.5) per game, via WhoScored.