When Sheffield United come out of the international break, they have an opportunity to leap into first place in the Championship with a draw or better against Leeds United on October 18th.
The Blades are currently in second, level on 19 points with top of the table Sunderland. Meanwhile, Leeds are fifth on 16 points. A Yorkshire derby between the Blades and Leeds is always feisty, that goes without saying. But, when the two sides clash at the top end of the table, the stakes are raised even higher.
When Sheffield United caused Leeds United to crumble
In the two most recent matches, the West Yorkshire club edged United by a single goal in both games, in the Premier League’s 2020/21 edition. Before that however, the South Yorkshire outfit dominated Leeds between the 17/18 Championship season and 18/19, as the Blades won three out of the four games, including the infamous 1-0 win at Elland Road in March 2019, thanks to a goal from the legendary Chris Basham.
With only eight games to go of that campaign, the “Basham’s arriving” moment proved to be a key moment in the Championship automatic promotion places as the two sides seemingly jostled with each other for several months for second place. The three points for United catapulted them ahead of Leeds by a point, and the Whites would only earn a further ten points from their remaining seven matches, whilst the Blades grew from strength to strength and earned 15 points from theirs.
Resigned to the playoffs at this time, Leeds United would lose to Derby County in the playoff semi-final by an aggregate score line of 5-3. Since that campaign, the rivalry between Leeds and the Blades has seemed to have gone up a notch and they will undoubtedly be more fireworks at Elland Road after the international break.
Of course, there is a little bit more to this game because of, former Blade, Jayden Bogle donning the white shirt of Leeds. Whilst on the other side, former Leeds player Jamie Shackleton is in the red and white stripes of United.
Can Chris Wilder lead the Blades to another victory at Elland Road in the Championship?
While ever Chris Wilder is in the Blades dugout and they are playing Leeds United, they’ll always be more needle simply because of Wilder’s past comments regarding the “muppets” from the West Yorkshire club during the 2018/19 term.
Wilder said: “Everyone should be so proud. The way we’ve attacked the division and dealt with heartache and refused to be beaten, it’s an amazing group. I’ve got muppets from Leeds talking about precious honours and Patrick Bamford and Adam Forshaw and ‘it’s over to you’; they got beat seven times since Christmas and we’ve been beaten once.”
I’m sure the Blades chief will be expecting some boo’s and banter from the crowd as he stands on the touchline hoping to lead his boyhood club to another victory at Elland Road.