Struggling Sheffield United face title-chasing Liverpool at Bramall Lane in a huge Premier League showdown.
Victory would lift Sheffield Utd off the foot of the table, whilst Liverpool can go top with a win if Arsenal lose on Tuesday (5 December) evening.
Team News
Oli McBurnie is suspended for Sheffield Utd after he was sent off during their defeat at Burnley.
Chris Basham (ankle), John Egan (foot), George Baldock, Rhian Brewster, Rhys Norrington-Davies (all hamstring), Tom Davies (thigh) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) are still sidelined.
Liverpool will be without defender, Joel Matip after he suffered a knee injury during their dramatic comeback win over Fulham.
Alisson, Diogo Jota (both muscle), Andrew Robertson (shoulder), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Thiago Alcantara (hip) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Sheffield Utd host Liverpool in a 7:30pm GMT kick-off at Bramall Lane on Wednesday 6 December, live on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Sheffield Utd have claimed just one point in their last six league meetings against Liverpool (D1, L5).
- Liverpool have lost one of their last five league visits to Sheffield Utd (W2, D2, L1).
- Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have scored two goals in each of their last three meetings against Sheffield Utd.
- No goalkeeper has made more errors which led to conceded goals this season than Sheffield Utd’s Wes Foderingham, who has conceded from two decisive errors.
- Eight of Mohammed Salah’s 10 league goals for Liverpool this season have been scored on his left foot.
Prediction
Following the decision to sack Paul Heckingbottom and bring back Chris Wilder, Sheffield Utd can’t do any worse than they did at Burnley, where they were ruthlessly outclassed from start to finish defensively whilst they failed to take their few chances clinically.
Wilder’s first task therefore has to be on shoring up the Blades’ defence because this is a tough game which they realistically won’t win on paper.
Liverpool though can’t exactly come here brimming with confidence because despite their ever-impressive attacking play, their defending against Fulham was pretty poor by their standards especially on the right flank which Fulham exploited very well at times.
Sheffield Utd though are surely sitting ducks for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds if their attack can get on top but with a fresh managerial change and likely set up defensively to counter-attack, the Blades can’t be underestimated but this is surely heading one way.
Prediction: Sheffield United 0-3 Liverpool
Result: Sheffield United 0-2 Liverpool
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