Sheffield United v Barnsley Preview

Posted on | April 6, 2009 | No Comments

This game has been hotly anticipated by both sets of supporters following the reverse fixture back in November. In that game Barnsley striker Iain Hume suffered a fractured skull after an elbow from Chris Morgan and with this being a local derby anyway, sparks are bound to fly. What’s more, the Blades still think they are in with a chance of automatic promotion whereas Barnsley are doing everything in their power to beat the drop.

Sheffield United’ season has taken a turn for the better in the past month or so and Kevin Blackwell was awarded the Championship Manager of the Month award for March. The Blades have been in absolutely wonderful form for the past few weeks, notching five wins and two draws from their last seven games. That’s now meant that they’re up to 4th in the table and with just three points separating them from the automatic positions, the club have every right to think they have the chance to go straight up through the top two route. They thumped fellow promotion contenders Cardiff 3-0 a couple of weeks ago and having comfortably beaten Ipswich 2-0 on Saturday, the Blades are playing with real confidence and it’ll take a stern test to beat them.

Barnsley on the other hand are in 20th position and one team who could definitely be playing League One football next season. The Tykes do have two games in hand over many of their rivals but with this and an away game to Coventry being those spare fixtures, it’ll take some terrific performances to get anything out of these games. On a more positive side, recent performances haven’t been too bad and Simon Davey’s men have lost just once in their last five – although just the one win has been thrown in there. Following the controversy in their last game against Sheffield United, there’s no doubt that the team and supporters will be fully up for this and determined to get a result for their injured team mate Iain Hume. However, it could take more than just spirit to overcome the Blades, who are undoubtedly the team to beat at the moment.

There’s very little team news to report for this one and both managers have no new problems following the weekend. Kevin Blackwell is hotly tipped to name an unchanged line up following United’s recent form, while Simon Davey is in a similar boat although could throw Adam Hammill in if he recovers from an injury sustained a few weeks ago.

Barnsley will throw everything into this one bearing in mind the circumstances, but we see nothing but a Sheffield United victory. The home side have looked unbeatable in recent weeks and with the thought of automatic promotion on their minds, we’ll predict a 2-0 win for Kevin Blackwell’s men.

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