Sheffield Wednesday should look no further than Huddersfield Town if they want to beat Leeds United: View | OneFootball

Highlights

Sheffield Wednesday's survival resurgence is set to continue over the weekend as they welcome Leeds United to Hillsborough in the Championship - and Danny Rohl could well be taking notes from Huddersfield.

The Owls have won five of their last six games to mark an unlikely run at staying up following their dreadful start to the season under Xisco Munoz; and with the same number of points as Stoke City and Huddersfield, they are well and truly in the picture to remain a second-tier outfit next season. But a huge task against the Whites is their first port of call, and with Huddersfield having taken a point against Daniel Farke's men, Owls fans will be hoping for a similar performance to the one that the Terriers turned in.

Of all the poor Huddersfield performances in the past few months, the way they set up against Leeds was all but perfect. Limiting the Whites to very little in the first half and disrupting the game expertly, a strike from goal-laden Michael Helik on the stroke of half-time saw a potential upset on the cards. Of course, that was cast in doubt when Jonathan Hogg was sent off on the stroke of half-time, but the Terriers saw fit to dig in at the interval to nick all three points.

Taking just 21 percent possession all game, Breitenreiter’s men knew they wouldn’t have a lot of the ball and, as such, sat behind Leeds in a structured formation throughout the game and limited them to extremely little.

Perhaps the best indication of their strong performance was the fact that they had five shots on target all game, despite having 10 men for half of the game against one of the division's best outfits. That is quite the tally for a team at the wrong end of the division, and in unleashing their not-so-secret weapon in Helik - who has nine goals from centre-back in just 30 league appearances - Huddersfield knew their strengths and stuck to them.

Of course, if it wasn’t for the red card, there is an argument to be had that they could well have won the game - and as such, the Owls should take note ahead of Friday’s clash. An expected goals metric is always a telling indicator of how a team performs, and with Sofascore stating that Huddersfield recorded 1.16xG in the game, whilst only conceding 1.92xG as 10 men, it’s a performance they can be proud of and something that the rest of the teams in the division should take note of.

Why Sheffield Wednesday should take note of Huddersfield’s tactics

The answer is quite simple. Prior to Leeds’ visit to the John Smith’s Stadium, they had won nine league games in a row, including impressive wins over Leicester City, a 3-0 drubbing away to Cardiff City and gutsy wins over play-off chasers Preston and Norwich.

Their other wins were against fellow relegation candidates Birmingham, Bristol City, Swansea and Plymouth Argyle - all of whom failed to score against Leeds by playing a more attacking style of football.

As a result, the Owls would be better off with a more rearguard approach to the game, despite their strong form recently under Danny Rohl which has seen them take five wins from their last six games in the Championship. An example has already been given with their 2-0 loss to Leicester as to what happens when you try to outplay the best teams in the division - and three points here would almost certainly hoist the Owls out of the relegation zone.