5 EFL Championship contenders despite poor starts to the season  

#4 Sheffield Wednesday

Carlos Carvalhal vying for automatic promotion this season

Despite having a brilliant last season by finishing fourth and narrowly missing out on the playoff final, Carlos Carvalhal has found his job to be a bit difficult this campaign with rumours of his dismissal doing the rounds.

The effect of these rumours seems to have subsided as Wednesday picked up crucial wins against Nottingham Forest and Brentford. With the six quick points, Wednesday climbed up ten places to 6th, five points off the leaders Leeds

With a strong squad and a manager currently getting out of a slump, Sheffield Wednesday's rise to challenge for promotion year after year indicates the quality of work being done by the manager and his staff.

Keeping most of the squad during the window was helpful but the key for Carvalhal will be to keep his best players healthy.

Steven Fletcher, Fernando Forestieri are key players for Wednesday and the addition of veteran George Boyd to the ranks gives The Owls multiple attacking options.

Counting Wednesday out of the promotion picture this early in the campaign would be underestimating the quality of players and manager, as they have too much quality not to be lurking in and around the playoff places come the end of the season.