Sheffield United welcome Bournemouth to Bramall Lane in a blockbuster Sky Bet Championship clash as both teams chase promotion.
Victory would see Sheffield Utd climb to third before Nottingham Forest play in the mid-afternoon kick-offs elsewhere, whereas Bournemouth will stay second with a win.
Team News
Filip Uremovic is available for Sheffield Utd after he was substituted in Tuesday’s win against QPR with cramp.
Billy Sharp (hamstring) is a doubt but Jack O’Connell, Charlie Goode, Chris Basham, Jayden Bogle (all knee), David McGoldrick (thigh) and Rhian Brewster (hamstring) remain absent.
Bournemouth have no fresh injury concerns to report after Wednesday’s defeat at West Brom with manager, Scott Parker potentially set to rotate his squad as Chris Mepham and Emiliano Marcondes chase returns to the starting line-up.
Robbie Brady (fitness) could feature if he is declared match-fit following a lengthy calf injury but Kieffer Moore (foot), Junior Stanislas (hamstring) and David Brooks (illness) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Sheffield United have lost just one of their last 10 league meetings against Bournemouth (W8, D1, L1).
- Bournemouth have won just one of eight previous league visits to Bramall Lane (W1, D2, L5).
- Sheffield Utd have won their last five home games against Bournemouth in all competitions but have kept just one clean sheet during this run.
- Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades have kept six clean sheets in their last eight home matches, conceding just once in each of the two games they failed to keep a clean sheet.
- Eight of Dominic Solanke’s 24 league goals for Bournemouth this season were scored away from home.
Prediction
Coming into this matchweek sat in sixth position with the advantage of playing first, Sheffield Utd really could do with a win in order to put pressure on their play-off rivals especially after scraping a clinical midweek win over QPR in a dominant effort.
Bournemouth meanwhile were simply toothless with none of their 18 shots on target in Wednesday’s defeat at West Brom despite dominating the match, after initially struggling to get an early foothold which was where they lost the match eventually.
Tactics therefore will be interesting because I expect Sheffield Utd to come out and try to play the same way that they did in midweek, whereas Bournemouth need to be more assertive quickly and clinical so I am expecting to see a tough fight with the first goal proving crucial.
Bournemouth though don’t have a strong record against the Blades but they should be able to squeeze out a draw here, especially if they score first which could be important to how their game unfolds.
Prediction: Sheffield United 1-1 Bournemouth
Result: Sheffield United 0-0 Bournemouth
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