Bang in-form Sheffield United welcome misfiring Blackburn to Bramall Lane on Wednesday night. Mark O’Haire shares his thoughts on the Championship showdown.
“Paul Heckingbottom’s charges have silenced 10 of their past league 14 opponents and haven’t conceded a home goal since October”
Sheffield United v Blackburn
Wednesday February 23, 19:45
Sky Sports
Sheff Utd extend impressive streak
In-form Sheffield United moved into the Championship play-off places with a dominant 4-0 victory over Swansea at Bramall Lane on Saturday. The Blades were relentless in the first half with Morgan Gibbs-White, George Baldock and Billy Sharp all getting on the scoresheet as the hosts impressed with a collection of top-quality approach play and finishing.
Swansea were given next to no encouragement and were totally blunted by United’s effervescent efforts, and Paul Heckingbottom‘s team completed the rout 12 minutes from time when the outstanding Gibbs-White bagged his second of the showdown; the Blades have now lost only one of their past 14 Championship games, winning nine.
Heckingbottom was obviously delighted with his team’s efforts post-match, saying: “I’m really pleased. We played against a team that can be difficult to play against and we could and should have had more. I’m not being disrespectful when I say that I’m not surprised how one-sided the game was.”
Blackburn without Brereton Diaz
Blackburn‘s match with Millwall on Saturday was postponed due to heavy snow at Ewood Park, giving Tony Mowbray‘s men the weekend off. Regardless, Rovers held onto third place in the table and will return to action on Wednesday for the first time since a desperately dreary goalless draw away at out-of-form West Brom on Valentine’s night.
Rovers’ 20-goal top goalscorer Ben Brereton Diaz went off with a foot injury in that fixture and is still sidelined for Blackburn here, whilst centre-back Daniel Ayala was injured in the warm-up meaning Ryan Nyambe moving into the back three, though the slightly makeshift defence stuck to its task for the most part, to please Mowbray post-match.
Mowbray said: “We have to accept the point and move on but I felt we were the team who were going to score. It’s just frustrating that we couldn’t nick a goal from an improved second-half performance. I’m still proud of keeping a clean sheet considering the issues we were dealt in defence but with the talent we have, we should be scoring a goal.”
Sheffield United were beaten in the reverse meeting at Ewood Park and are therefore looking to avoid a Rovers double for the first time since the 1992/93 Premier League campaign. The Blades have at least picked up three wins and a draw in their last four home league meetings with Blackburn since losing here way back in January 1994.
Sheffield United 1.9110/11 are one of the form teams in the second-tier right now with the Blades bagging top honours in nine of their last 13 Championship contests, including four of their last five at Bramall Lane (W4-D1-L0). Paul Heckingbottom’s charges have silenced 10 of their past league 14 opponents and haven’t conceded a home goal since October.
Ten wins from 13 parachuted Blackburn 4.507/2 into the automatic promotion picture through the winter but Rovers have failed to fire since mid-January. Tony Mowbray’s men have posted W1-D2-L3 across their past six outings, failing to even sore on five occasions. In fact, the visitors have notched only two league goals in their last 12 hours of action.
Sheffield United have undoubtedly improved defensively since Paul Heckingbottom took charge of proceedings, and with the Blades excelling at the back, combined with Blackburn’s struggles in attack, it’s understandable to see Under 2.5 Goals trading at 1.768/11. It’s paid out in 12 of United’s past 17, as well as 12 of Blackburn’s most recent 15 fixtures.
Instead, I’ll take the 2.255/4 available on Sheffield United to win alongside Under 3.5 Goals via the Bet Builder on the Sportsbook. Only two of Rovers’ reverses in 2021/22 have arrived in matches featuring four goals or more and the bulk of Bramall Lane tussles under Heckingbottom have tended to be low-scoring.
A 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, or 2-1 home success provides profit.
Source: Betfair UK English Championship
