Sheffield Wednesday face Leeds United is a Yorkshire derby on Saturday with the winner cementing their place in the automatic promotion places.

Sheffield Wednesday are revitalised under new manager, and former Leeds manager, Garry Monk. The Owls have lost just one in seven under their new boss, keeping three clean sheets and only conceding four, whilst winning four games and drawing two.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United are currently a point and a place above their South Yorkshire rivals in second. The Whites’ most recent fixture saw them draw away to in-form Preston following a late equaliser from substitute Eddie Nketiah.

Leeds have been criticised this season for the inefficiency in front of goal, with only 17 goals scored despite having unrivalled dominance in the vast majority of their games, and glorious chances created in the process.

Wednesday come into this fixture after a hard-earned 1-0 win over a resurgent Stoke City side, with Massimo Luongo scoring the only goal. The Owls had ‘keeper Cameron Dawson to thank for the win after his immense point-blank save from Lee Gregory kept the clean sheet intact for the home side.

Wednesday midfielder Barry Bannan has seen his responsibilities rise of late under Monk after being given the captain’s armband for every game since the 31st August.

Meanwhile, Mateusz Klich at Leeds has been a consistent figure for Leeds in midfield, putting in performances built from hard work.

These two will match-up against each other on Saturday afternoon and go head-to-head, so here, we take a look at how that contest shapes up in numbers so far this season.

Both midfielders have been more or less regular fixtures of their respective sides, with Klich being ever-present and Bannan only missing Wednesday’s second game of the season against Barnsley. Mateusz Klich has in-fact been an ever-present in the league ever since Bielsa’s arrival, starting every single game in midfield.

In terms of goals, both players will know they can do better and have done in the past, with one goal for the Polish international, Klich, and none for the Scottish international, Bannan.

In terms of assists, this is the first stat that Bannan leads with, as his three assists trump Klich’s solitary one. When contributing to goals, last season proved much more fruitful for the pair, with Klich scoring 10 goals and registering eight assists, and Bannan scoring four and assisting 11.

Passing accuracy is a particular strength for both midfielders, and there isn’t much separating them in this respect. Klich edges this one with 83.8% passing accuracy to Bannan’s 82.8% accuracy. Both figures being quite impressive for midfielders tasked with providing incisive passes into the final third.

Defensively, both are performing well too. It is another stat that Mateusz Klich slightly edges with 63.4% of defensive duels won as opposed to Barry Bannan’s 61.8%. This difference is almost negligible but shows that both players are as solid defensively as they are going forward.

The pair are very impressive across the board and there is very little to separate them going into Saturday’s derby, it is sure to be a midfield battle that will help go some way to deciding the outcome of the match.