Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Championship clash between Sheffield United and Burnley, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
A key battle at the top end of the Championship table will take place at Bramall Lane on Boxing Day, as Sheffield United welcome Burnley.
After both recording victories last weekend, the hosts sit three points clear at the top of the standings, while their visitors are four points behind in third spot.
Match preview
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Sheffield United head into Boxing Day aiming to further extend their lead at the top of the Championship table at the halfway stage of the season, having enjoyed an eye-catching start to the campaign on their return to England’s second tier.
Aiming to win an immediate promotion back to the Premier League, Chris Wilder‘s side have overcome a two-point deduction to sit at the summit of the division on 48 points from 22 outings, having won 15 of those and only suffered two defeats.
That is in no small part down to their near-perfect home record, having only dropped two points in 10 outings at Bramall Lane and won each of their last nine without conceding a single goal along the way.
After suffering their only two league losses of the season consecutively in October, the Blades find themselves unbeaten in 11 league outings having won nine of those, most recently beating Plymouth Argyle 2-0 at home and visiting Cardiff City and prevailing by the same scoreline thanks to Kieffer Moore‘s second-half brace.
Now sitting three points clear at the top of the table and four ahead of Thursday’s visitors, having only conceded 11 goals in 22 games, Sheffield United will aim to strengthen their promotion bid at the halfway point of the campaign with a fourth straight league win on Boxing Day.
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They face a tough test, though, as the visitors make the trip across to South Yorkshire hoping to break into the automatic promotion spots and extend their own fine run of form.
Also aiming to win an immediate promotion back to the Premier League this term, Burnley currently sit third with 44 points on the board from 22 outings, largely thanks to their fine defensive record being the only side to concede fewer goals than Thursday’s hosts this season, having only allowed nine in those 22 games.
Since suffering just their second league defeat of the season in early November, the Clarets are now unbeaten in nine Championship outings and have recorded three straight away victories, most recently visiting Norwich City and coming from behind to prevail 2-1 thanks to goals from Zian Flemming and Josh Brownhill in the final 25 minutes.
Scott Parker‘s men then met Watford at Turf Moor on Saturday and made it back-to-back 2-1 victories, having gone 2-0 up through Jaidon Anthony and Brownhill and stood strong for the final 10 minutes after Kwadwo Baah pulled one back for the visitors.
Now returning to action with just a one-point gap up to second-placed Leeds United and a four-point gap to their hosts at the summit of the table, Burnley will aim to make it three consecutive victories and 10 games unbeaten to narrow their gap to top spot.
Sheffield United Championship form:
Burnley Championship form:
Team News
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Sheffield United will remain without defender Femi Seriki, midfielder Oliver Arblaster and attacker Tyrese Campbell due to injury issues on Thursday, although they may be boosted by the returns of Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vinicius Souza at the back and in midfield respectively.
Jack Robinson and Harry Souttar may continue in the middle of the defence if Ahmedhodzic is not deemed fit to feature from the start, while Souza will hope to rejoin either Tom Davies or Sydie Peck, who have partnered up in the engine room for the Blades’ last two outings being a pair of 2-0 wins.
Kieffer Moore will continue to lead the line, having netted a brace last time in his first start following an injury layoff to move onto five league goals for the season, while Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi will hope to continue in support despite competition from Rhian Brewster and Andre Brooks.
Burnley continue to contend with several injury issues of their own, with Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey, Lyle Foster, Manuel Benson and Jeremy Sarmiento set to remain confined to the treatment room.
Jay Rodriguez and Zian Flemming will compete to lead the line in their 4-2-3-1 setup, while Luca Koleosho could return to join Josh Brownhill and Jaidon Anthony in support, after the pair both got on the scoresheet last weekend leaving Brownhill on eight goals for the season.
Behind them, Josh Laurent will continue to join Josh Cullen in the engine room, while Connor Roberts, CJ Egan-Riley, Maxime Esteve and Bashir Humphreys should again line up in a back four despite competition from Joe Worrall and former Sheffield United captain John Egan.
Sheffield United possible starting lineup:
Cooper; Gilchrist, Souttar, Robinson, Burrows; Souza, Davies; Rak-Sakyi, O’Hare, Hamer; Moore
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Humphreys; Cullen, Laurent; Anthony, Brownhill, Koleosho; Flemming
We say: Sheffield United 1-0 Burnley
Given the two teams’ eye-catching defensive records, we can only envisage a tight low-scoring contest on Boxing Day and give a slight edge to Chris Wilder’s side given their impeccable home form.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
