Relegation state of play after shock results go against Sheffield Wednesday in fight for survival

Had they held onto their lead against Stoke City then the Owls would’ve been 21st after the final whistle at Hillsborough, but instead they dropped down to 23rd ahead of a vital trip to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park next weekend.

To make matters worse, practically all of the teams in the scrap at the bottom picked up points, with a couple of them securing big shock victories against teams fighting for the league title. Only one of the eight teams battling for survival was beaten, meaning that some of Wednesday’s rivals put daylight between themselves and the drop zone.

Both Plymouth Argyle and Blackburn Rovers did themselves a huge favour as they narrowly beat Leicester City and Leeds United 1-0 to move up to 17th and 18th respectively, while Millwall hit the 50 point mark by beating Cardiff City to end the weekend 16th and six points clear of Huddersfield Town in 22nd.

Queens Park Rangers were the only one of the eight to be beaten, losing to Swansea City, with the Welsh outfit almost guaranteeing their safety by picking up all three points in that one - while a big 3-0 victory for Birmingham City over Coventry City saw them leap back out of the relegation zone and go a point clear of Huddersfield and Danny Röhl’s Owls.

The Terriers had come close to beating Bristol City away from home, and felt aggrieved not to claim the win after a controversial late penalty decision against them. It was a result that came as a boost to those above them as well as small solace for Wednesday after their 1-1 draw with Stoke at S6.

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Röhl’s side will get out of the bottom three next weekend if they beat Blackburn and neither Birmingham nor Huddersfield win against Rotherham United or Swansea, and can still mathematically finish as high as 14th if results go their way in the final three fixtures. The most points that Wednesday can hope for is 53, and that’s if they’re victorious in all of their games - only once in the last decade has a team reached 50+ and still been relegated.