Today’s Sheffield United vs Sheffield Wednesday preview takes a look at the second Steel City Derby of the season between two of English football’s most bitter rivals. The red half of the city have been performing much better than their opponents so far in 2017/18 and they will be looking to complete a Championship double over their historical enemy when the pair meet at Bramall Lane this Friday evening.
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Ahead of our Sheffield United vs Sheffield Wednesday betting tips, the home team have been beaten just once in their last five outings, though it’s important to note that they picked up wins in just two of those matches. Chris Wilder’s team closed out 2017 in a pretty rocky form, winning just one of their last eight games before the turn of the New Year. With a place in the Play-Offs very much on the agenda this season, Sheffield United will hope they can start to replicate the fine football they played in the earlier parts of the campaign.
Sheffield Wednesday are one of the worst teams in the division on current form, though with the appointment of new coach Jos Luhukay confirmed just a couple of days ago, they will hope to capitalise on the positive shift in mood that a new manager usually brings ahead of this week’s derby. Luhukay has a huge job on his hands, however, to reorganise and motivate a squad that has won just once in eleven fixtures.
The home team’s recent patchy performances have had a sizeable impact on the odds available for today’s Sheffield United vs Sheffield Wednesday bets, though make no mistake, they are a much better side than their local adversary. When the clubs faced off at Hillsborough earlier in the season, a brace from Leon Clarke helped the Blades to a famous 4-2 victory. Interestingly, that was the first Steel City Derby for seven years.
United have been particularly efficient when playing at Bramall Lane this season, winning eight of their thirteen fixtures on their own patch in the Championship. Only four sides have left with all three points in 2017/18 – amazingly, three of those defeats came in their most recent five contests at home. Fortunately for Chris Wilder, he welcomes a team that has won just twice from thirteen on the road.
When you strip everything back, it seems hugely improbable that a side with one win in eleven fixtures will have the required confidence to battle their way to a positive result in a tremendously difficult derby game. With the early season 4-2 win still relatively fresh in their minds, the Blades should cut through their city rivals again this Friday. Bet-at-home’s fabulous Championship football odds are unmatched in terms of value, making them our recommended bookmaker for our opening pick.
The high scoring September meeting between the clubs analysed in this week’s Sheffield United vs Sheffield Wednesday predictions has clouded this selection a little, though really that game was packed full of early season cavalier attacking with little regard given to defending. Now that we have moved into mid-season, things have settled down for both sides in terms of goal mouth action.
There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 100% of the Blades’ last three outings – they started that sequence with a 0-1 loss at home to Bolton Wanderers, before picking up a point in a 1-1 draw at Derby. Their weekend 1-0 victory away to Ipswich completed their recent trio of low scoring affairs. The goals have dried up somewhat for leading marksman Leon Clarke. The 32-year-old has netted just once in five, which is his worst run of what’s been a prolific campaign.
New Wednesday coach Jos Luhukay will have to contend with his squad’s lack of goal getting power ahead of the derby. In fact, his players have failed to find the net in all three of their most recent fixtures against Brentford, Burton, and Carlisle respectively. With tensions high and cutting edge lacking, we expect there to be few goals on Friday. Betway have the most lucrative over/under odds around for our English football tips, so we advise you to take advantage of their excellent prices.