Sheffield United come into Saturday’s contest in the midst of a six-game unbeaten run in the Championship and with a healthy lead over the playoff places, albeit having seen a streak of five straight victories put to an end in their last league outing at the beginning of the year.
Returning to action from the World Cup break in second place with 38 points from 21 matches, Paul Heckingbottom’s side picked up exactly where they left off with victories over Huddersfield Town and Wigan Athletic, and they would continue their fine form with a 3-1 home triumph over Coventry City on Boxing Day.
After making it five on the bounce with a victory away at Blackpool, the Blades travelled to take on Queens Park Rangers in their first game of the new year, and they looked set to fall to a narrow
defeat having failed to produce a reply to Ilias Chair’s early goal, only for John Egan to net an equaliser deep into injury time to snatch a valuable point for the South Yorkshire outfit.
While that did see their lead over the chasing pack reduced slightly, Heckingbottom’s men do still have a healthy nine-point cushion in second place with a five-point gap up to league leaders
Burnley, and they head into the weekend on the back of a 2-0 FA Cup triumph, as they booked a fourth-round trip to Wrexham with a win away at Millwall thanks to goals from Daniel Jebbison and Jayden Bogle.
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Now turning their attention back to England’s second tier, the Blades will look for a 16th Championship win of the campaign on Saturday to further strengthen their position in the fight for automatic promotion.
They welcome a Stoke City side who are also aiming to get back to winning ways in the league, having now dropped to 18th spot following back-to-back losses.
An inconsistent run going into the World Cup break saw the Potters sit in the bottom half with 25 points from 21 games, and they appeared to return to action in better form, putting together draws against Cardiff City and Rotherham United either side of a 2-1 victory away at Bristol City.
