Sheffield United will try to shake off the embarrassment of losing 8-0 last weekend when they face off against West Ham United tomorrow afternoon.
Sheffield United are now at the foot of the Premier League table after the heavy defeat against Newcastle, whilst the hosts are 7th having previously been higher before losing their last two matches, to Manchester City and Liverpool.
Paul Heckingbottom’s squad will be boosted by Oli McBurnie’s return to action after serving a one-match suspension. And there is a report from Alan Nixon claiming Rhian Brewster will be available for selection for the trip to the London stadium.
West Ham edged out Lincoln City in their cup match in midweek having rested the vast majority of their key players, and there aren’t many fitness questions other than Aaron Cresswell, who has been dealing with a hamstring problem.
Hosting a team that is coming off the back of an 8-0 defeat, surely the Hammers are expecting a hatful on Saturday?
Opposition fans
“This game has nil nil or one nil written all over it. I’m sure someone has the stats that show a team that lets in more than 5 goals one game only lets in 1 the next.”
“Reports saying shef utd will have 8 players out for this so defensive formation it will be then and scrape a 1-0.”
“Any team that gets whooped always recovers and gives a fighting performance the week after.”
“Anyone who thinks this’ll be a walk in the park is sadly mistaken.”
“Completely agree. It will be an arm wrestle for 75’sh minutes, then we’ll close it out. Wounded animal and all that.”
“We won’t batter these, it will more than likely be one of those stuttering, hard fought ground out wins.”
“It won’t be a walk in the park but if we want to challenge the top 8 then we simply have to win this game and I think we will. Even when we were awful for most of last season we still won games at home against teams in the relegation scrap.”
Stats
Sheffield United experienced their most significant league loss in the previous match, falling 8-0 to Newcastle. Only one team in Premier League history has rebounded from an eight-goal or more defeat to win their next game – Wigan Athletic achieved this in November 2009 (losing 9-1 to Spurs, then winning 1-0 against Sunderland).
West Ham has secured victory in their last six Premier League encounters against newly promoted teams after a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest last August. This marks their lengthiest winning streak against promoted sides in top-flight history.
My opinion
I can’t even dare to imagine Sheffield United putting in back-to-back appalling performances, therefore I think the Blades will be much more improved in every aspect of the game. Especially with the return of Oli McBurnie.
The entire team will have a point to prove, in saying that, I still can’t see United picking up a point unfortunately. It would be stupid for anybody to look at the set piece statistics and disregard them. The Blades are the worst team in the league at defending dead-balls, while West Ham are very strong in that area.
For that reason alone I’m expecting Sheffield United to score but concede at least a couple.
