Lincoln City return from the first international break of the campaign with a short hop across the Yorkshire border to face Sheffield United.
Saturday marks 21 days since either of these sides kicked a ball in a professional match. The narrative surrounding all the Championship fixtures this weekend will focus on what impact such a break from play will have on the teams.
For the Imps, it’s a chance to respond to our narrow reverse against early leaders Swansea City, after what has been an excellent start to the season.
Sheffield United Form
It’s been a tricky start to the season for the Blades, who sit 18th in the early standings after eight games. Chris Wilder’s outfit have won just two times in the second tier, losing three of their fixtures to sit marginally closer to the relegation zone than the expanded play-off places. However, it’s very early days, and in a week where there are three fixtures, a run of results, positive or negative, can very much change their current outlook.
After goalless draws against Birmingham City and Swansea City to start the campaign, United again found the Carabao Cup as a source of some much-needed goals. After putting three past Mansfield Town in round one, Tom Cannon and Romelle Donovan were on target at league counterparts Blackburn Rovers.
Cannon also got the Blades’ first league goal at the end of the month, equalising at Cardiff City, after Jack Moylan had put the Bluebirds infront. Despite leading 2-1 through Callum O’Hare, in what was his final match for the club, they could only leave South Wales with a point. There were three goals inside the first seven minutes that day, and the following midweek saw a similarly lively start to the contest.
Both the Blades and Bolton Wanderers traded early blows, but it was the home side who had the last laugh to gain their first league win of the season. United’s strong Tuesday night results continued for the second time at Blackburn, after losing against Norwich City. However, their fortunes have deteriorated since then with three defeats in succession. League reverses late in the day against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Stoke City were compounded by an embarrassing League Cup exit at Fleetwood Town.
Sheffield United Team News
Wilder was hopeful of having the injured trio of Femi Seriki, Harrison Burrows and Ryan Oné all available following the international break. Seriki has been absent since sustaining a knee injury in their first success at Ewood Park in August, which was expected to keep him sidelined for a ‘considerable time’.
Burrows has played even fewer minutes this campaign, suffering a knock to a previous injury, as his gaffer Wilder explained post-Cardiff:
“H (Harrison Burrows) was out for a while with a tight quad, and he tweaked that last weekend at Swansea. So that’s the reason he wasn’t involved in the week, and why he wasn’t involved today.”
Former Lincoln loanee Ryan Oné completes the set of injured Blades players who are hoping that an extended international break has given them time to recover. The young Scottish forward, who scored five times in 16 appearances at Sincil Bank last season, returned to S2 with considerable interest in his services.
United opted to keep him, and he provided an assist in the win at Mansfield in the EFL Cup. After making a cameo against Birmingham on matchday one in the Championship, a hamstring injury has kept him out of action since.
Summer Business
Sheffield United’s struggles infront of goal can be attributed to the loss of key personnel in their creative department. Callum O’Hare and Gustavo Hamer both moved on for sizeable transfer fees to Wrexham and Coventry City, respectively. Andre Brooks was another high-profile departure, leaving for league rivals Norwich.
The Blades added free agent Jordan Ayew to their squad after the window closed, a move which perhaps outlined their shortcomings in attacking areas. Matt Doherty adds experience on the right side of defence from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Hamza Choudhury boosts their midfield from League One outfit Leicester City.
Liam Kitching left the Foxes’ rivals, Coventry, in favour of a move to the red half of the Steel City, alongside the recapture of Ben Brereton Díaz for his third loan stint in South Yorkshire. Romelle Donavan, who has been among the few goals scored by United this season, is another temporary arrival from Brentford.
Previous Meetings
Lincoln recorded a memorable League Cup upset at Bramall Lane three years ago, dumping the Blades out on penalties following a goalless draw.
That was one of just three meetings this century, which have all come in domestic cup competitions. You have to go back four decades to 1984 for the last time these two teams clashed in a league fixture, which also ended in a stalemate.
Unsurprisingly, United have a far superior head-to-head record than ourselves, winning 24 times to the Imps nine victories. The spoils have been shared on four occasions.
What Can We Expect?
There are some patterns to draw from United’s opening 11 games of the season. They have evidently been hurt in forward areas by the loss of key creative players, as they sit in the bottom third for home goals this campaign.
While they have been solid defensively at times, that hasn’t always translated into clean sheets at Bramall Lane, which should give the Imps some hope of nicking a goal. As their games against fellow newly-promoted teams Cardiff and Bolton demonstrated, we need to be switched on at all times.
They hit both sides in the opening exchanges and in the final moments of those encounters, but they too suffered defensive fragilities in the first few moments of play. As we have seen with our three away wins, the joint-highest figure in the division, once we’re ahead, we are typically good at keeping out the opposition.
In this instance, defending an early goal for a large proportion of the game would prove more difficult. However, the Blades have also been susceptible to late goals in their two most recent second-tier fixtures.
In a month that looks particularly challenging on paper, coming away from Bramall Lane with a positive result would mark an excellent return from the international break.
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