The Blades were due to face Watford at Vicarage Road last weekend but due to a week full of blizzards the game, like many up and down the Country was duly postponed - leaving two FA Cup fixtures with Queens Park Rangers there last port of football action.
The Red and White Wizards faced Middlesbrough on the opening day of the season at the Riverside in the curtain raiser in the Championship. The game ended 0-0 with neither side really penetrating the opposition goal in what was very much a midfield battle throughout.
Blades boss Kevin Blackwell could see striker Darius Henderson return to the starting line-up; the forward who has been out injured featured on the substitutes bench in the 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers last Tuesday night and came on to play the
final 15 minutes.
Possible Blades Line-Up: Mark Bunn, Derek Geary, Chris Morgan, Matthew Kilgallon, Andy Taylor, Jamie Ward, James Harper, Nick Montgomery, Stephen Quinn, Darius Henderson, Ched Evans.
Middlesbrough were also unfortunate to see their home fixture with Swansea City postponed in plenty of time prior to the weekend with only a dozen fixtures taking place last Saturday in England and Scotland. It undoubtedly came as a relief to the North East club who have claimed just two victories in the previous seventh fixtures and lay 11th in the Championship table.
Boro boss Gordon Strachan will be without 23 year old French midfielder Didier Digard who has joined Nice in a six month loan deal. He signed for the Riverside club in July 2008 in a deal thought to be worth around £4,000,000 but injuries has limited his appearances to just 34 games.
According to 'reports' the Reds are interested in signing Glasgow Celtic duo Barry Robson and Gary Caldwell to the Riverside, if as expected they make the deals complete prior to this weekend's fixtures then they could make their debuts at Bramall Lane.
However they will be without former Bristol City and Reading striker Leroy Lita who is serving the last of his three match suspension - he has already missed the defeats to Barnsley (1-2) and Manchester City (0-1); he will be made available for their trip to Doncaster Rovers on 26th January.
The visitors are expected to feature forward Marcus Bent amongst their eighteen man squad and the striker could play some part against his former club.
Bent was signed by Adrian Heath in October 1999 from Port Vale (£300,000) and made his debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Huddersfield Town and later that season netted a hat-trick in a 6-0 win over West Bromwich Albion. In November 2000 he left the Lane in a £2,100,000 move to Blackburn Rovers having made 56
(+0) appearances and netted 24 goals.
Possible Reds Line-Up: Danny Coyne, Justin Hoyte, Chris Riggott, Rhys Williams, Tony McMahon, David Wheater, Gary O'Neil, Adam Johnson, Julio Arca, Marcus Bent, Jonathan Franks
Blades-Mad Prediction: Sheffield United 2-1 Middlesbrough
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:: Statistics ::
For Head to Head statistics please click here.
Last 10 Games... Home & Away
Season | Date | Home | Score | Away | Competition |
2007/2008 | Wed 27 Feb | Middlesbrough | 1 - 0 | Sheff. Utd. | F.A. Cup |
after extra time, 90 minutes 0-0 | |||||
Sun 17 Feb | Sheff. Utd. | 0 - 0 | Middlesbrough | F.A. Cup | |
2006/2007 | Mon 01 Jan | Middlesbrough | 3 - 1 | Sheff. Utd. | Premiership |
Sat 30 Sep | Sheff. Utd. | 2 - 1 | Middlesbrough | Premiership | |
1997/1998 | Tue 07 Apr | Sheff. Utd. | 1 - 0 | Middlesbrough | League Division One |
Sun 05 Oct | Middlesbrough | 1 - 2 | Sheff. Utd. | League Division One | |
1994/1995 | Mon 17 Apr | Middlesbrough | 1 - 1 | Sheff. Utd. | League Division One |
Mon 26 Dec | Sheff. Utd. | 1 - 1 | Middlesbrough | League Division One | |
1992/1993 | Tue 09 Feb | Sheff. Utd. | 2 - 0 | Middlesbrough | Premier League |
Sat 05 Sep | Middlesbrough | 2 - 0 | Sheff. Utd. | Premier League | |
Head to Head Statistics... | Goals | |||||
Venue | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
Home | 48 | 27 | 11 | 10 | 81 | 44 |
Away | 48 | 13 | 10 | 25 | 57 | 99 |
Total | 96 | 40 | 21 | 35 | 138 | 143 |
:: Match Officials ::
Referee: A. D'Urso
Assistants: W. Smallwood & D. Storrie
Fourth Official: D. Naylor