Match Preview: Manchester United vs Sheffield United

Manchester United vs Sheffield United Team News, Down The Wings

Manchester United vs Sheffield United | Premier League | 24/06/20 K.O: 18:00 GMT | Sky Sports

Following their 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspurs on Friday, Manchester United return home to Old Trafford to face a resilient and hard-working Sheffield United side, with both sides vying for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

This game, of course, will be different to any other played at the Theatre of Dreams. It will be the firs time since the restart that United have played a home game behind closed doors, with no fans spurring them on, with no Stretford End becoming the twelfth man. The players will have to do it alone, with the goal of European qualification their sole motivation, whilst also adapting to the 76,000 empty seats and silence that surrounds them.

How Do Manchester United Look?

The break in play has been kind to United on one front- injuries.

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Friday’s fixture against Spurs saw the return of forward Marcus Rashford to the starting eleven, whilst Paul Pogba made just his eighth league appearance of the season, coming off the bench for the final 34 minutes of the match, winning The Reds their penalty, of which Bruno coolly finished to tie the game.

Pogba’s impressive display will surely be enough to get a place in the starting eleven against The Blades.

David De Gea’s performance in North London raised a few eyebrows, and again posed the question as to whether he should remain United’s number one, or whether Sergio Romero should replace him for the remainder of the season, with a view of Dean Henderson taking the spot at the beginning of next season.

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During his pre-match press conference, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer defended the Spaniard, telling reporters “David is the best goalkeeper in the world, he’s conceded two goals in the last seven he’s played for us, there are City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton, two goals in seven games, we’ve gone on a run and the two goals”. Solskjaer clearly trusts the Spaniard, so he can be expected to start in goal on Wednesday evening.

In terms of injuries, Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe were unavailable for selection against Spurs, and Solskjaer expects them to be the only absentees again, saying “We don’t have any other injury issues, I think they all managed to get through the game. They were tired towards the end, some of them, but we’ve got another 90 minutes under our belt and we’re ready to go again.”

Opposition: Sheffield United

When they were promoted to the Premier League, Sheffield United were most people’s picks to go straight back down to the championship.

One year later, and The Blades sit seventh, just two points off Manchester United who occupy fifth, and with Manchester City’s pending Champions League ban, fifth place may be enough for qualification to the competition this term.

Chris Wilder has his team playing impressive, expansive football, with overlapping defenders creating an overload on the wings, making them very different to the usual teams we see promoted from the Championship.

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Sheffield are without several key men for this clash, however. Dean Henderson is on loan from their Manchester counterparts, so will be unavailable, whilst centre half John Egan is suspended, following his red card against Newcastle, prior to his side’s collapse in their 3-0 defeat at St James’ Park.

With key men missing at the back, The Blades may struggle to deal with the attacking intent of United come 18:00 on Wednesday evening.

Key Stats

Paul Pogba, as he usually is, was the centre of attention when he came on against Tottenham, and for good reason.

In the short space of time he was on the pitch, the Frenchman recorded a long pass accuracy of 100% and a short pass accuracy of 94%, whilst making four ball recoveries, two blocks, one tackle, as well as winning the penalty that salvaged a point for United following a strong and powerful run down the by-line.

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Pogba’s game changing ability means that he must start on Wednesday, should Solskjaer want to maximise the chance of winning the match.