While a swift return to the Championship appears inevitable for Chris Wilder’s basement Blades, this weekend’s hosts silenced the Vitality Stadium on March 9, where Gustavo Hamer and Jack Robinson propelled Sheffield United into an unexpected 2-0 lead versus Bournemouth.
The travelling crowd would have likely accepted a point if it were offered to them before kickoff, but this one left a particularly bitter taste in the mouth, as Dango Ouattara’s majestic leap and header cut the deficit in half before the wide man turned provider for Enes Unal to snatch a draw for the Cherries.
As creditable as Sheffield United’s efforts were on the South Coast, the grim reality of the situation remains the same for the Premier League’s worst-performing side, who remain rooted to the foot of the division with a paltry 14 points and are eight adrift of safety.
The Blades can take a small slice of solace from the fact that they have a game in hand on their demotion rivals, and the eight-point gap to Luton Town in 17th is not entirely insurmountable, but few are holding out hope of Wilder’s troops pulling off the latest great escape from the drop zone.
Twenty-four goals scored and 74 conceded represent the worst Premier League metrics of their kind in 2023-24, and home has certainly not been where the heart is for Sheffield United, who have set an unwanted English league record by shipping at least five goals in each of their last four Bramall Lane battles in all tournaments.
Brighton & Hove Albion, Aston Villa and Arsenal have all had their way with the Blades on Sheffield soil in recent months, and Fulham ought to arrive in South Yorkshire confident of prolonging Wilder’s home woes if their Tottenham trouncing is anything to go by.
Aided by arguably Spurs’ worst performance of the Ange P ostecoglou era so far, Fulham blew their London rivals to smithereens through a Rodrigo Muniz brace – his sixth and seventh goals from his last eight Premier League matches – either side of a Sasa Lukic finish, thereby sinking Tottenham at Craven Cottage for the second time this season following their EFL Cup shootout success.
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That three-goal crushing two weeks ago marked a fourth win from six matches for the eye-catching Cottagers, who should enjoy a relatively simple cruise to the Premier League finish line as they reside in 12th position, just two points off a place in the top half and six further back of the European places.
A continental charge is therefore not out of the question, but Marco Silva’s men have played at least one more match than most of the teams around them and head to Bramall Lane with just one win to show from their last 13 top-flight away games, although that did come at Manchester United’s Old Trafford headquarters.
Silva’s troops also ran out convincing 3-1 winners when Sheffield United paid a visit to Craven Cottage earlier this season, and victory at Bramall Lane this weekend would see Fulham do the top-flight double over the Blades for the first time in their history.
