Sheffield United

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield following Saturday's 3-2 victory at Leicester City.

"It was outstanding," he said.

"There were some tired legs at the end - I've told you about the schedule and being punished, possibly, more than anybody.

"To go Sunday afternoon, in an emotional game like that (against city rivals Sheffield Wednesday) at Hillsborough, to then go into Wednesday night and get the job done and then to come here.

"Look at their team-sheet, look at the players they have got, and especially what we did in the first half – we absolutely dismantled them.

"We were outstanding, even for the first 10 minutes of the second half. They scored a great goal that got them back in it and we did everything we needed to do. We had everything to lose, especially when the second one went in, and they had everything to gain.

"When they are 3-0 down, they can take big risks and it becomes an easier game for them and a tougher game for us. But the attitude of the team was to gain a big three points."

Sheffield United have dragged themselves out of the relegation zone and head coach Chris Wilder is now calling for consistency, not just in terms of results but, more importantly, performance.

The Blades travel to Leicester on Saturday (12:30 GMT) knowing a third successive league win could take them up to 18th in the Championship.

Tuesday's 3-0 win over Portsmouth was only the second time this season Wilder's side have posted back-to-back victories in 2025-26.

"I've said it to the players, always the biggest compliment you can be given, myself, the coaches and the football club is they know what they're going to get when they play Sheffield United," Wilder said. "I think that's coming together now.

"[We're] not always guaranteed the result but you know, performances, we want sevens and eights out of 10.

"We don't want a nine out of 10 and we don't want a four out of 10. We don't want to go from there in games as well, to there as well, which obviously we did in a couple of the games.

"The Preston game [a 3-2 defeat in late October] possibly the most recent one.

"Consistency is really key."

You can listen to more from Chris Wilder on BBC Sounds.

Both Leicester City and Sheffield United will be vying for a much needed ascent up the table when they meet at the King Power Stadium on Saturday (12:30 GMT)

Not many would have expected the two teams to be lingering at the bottom half of the table at the start of the season but while fortunes seem to be abandoning one, the other appears to finally be seeing some light.

The Blades have dragged themselves out of the bottom three following two successive 3-0 wins and will be hoping their season has finally kicked into gear.

Whereas Leicester succumbed to a difficult 3-0 defeat to Southampton last time out and are awaiting news of a possible points deduction that would make a promotion push even tougher.

• Leicester City are unbeaten in each of their last eight league games against Sheffield United (W6 D2), winning the last five in a row.

• Sheffield United have won just one of their last eight away league games against Leicester City (D2 L5), with this their first visit since a 5-0 loss in March 2021.

• Leicester have lost just one of their last 10 home league games (W5 D4), with no side in the Championship this season drawing more home games than the Foxes (4).

• After beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, Sheffield United are looking to record successive away league wins for the first time since March last season (run of six).

• Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has lost all three of his managerial league games against Leicester, all in the Premier League from August 2019 to December 2020. He has only faced Liverpool (6), Man City (5), and Southampton (5) more without ever avoiding defeat in his career as a manager in the top four tiers.

Sheffield United midfielder Gus Hamer says they haven't given up on challenging at the top end of the Championship this season.

The Blades endured a dismal start to the campaign under Ruben Selles, losing their opening five games before he was replaced by returning boss Chris Wilder.

Last season's beaten play-off finalists moved out of the bottom three with a 3-0 win over Portsmouth on Wednesday night and are 11 points off the top six.

"I haven't looked at the bottom three to be honest," Hamer told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"I don't want to sound cocky or anything but I think it's just the team we've got and the ability, the fans we've got. We shouldn't be in that place in the first place.

"But that's the reality, we've been there. We've got ourselves out of that situation so now we're just looking up the table.

"Step by step and everything is possible in this league so I think we still have a good chance to go high up in the league."

Hamer returned from injury this week after missing six league games and scored an excellent long-range goal in the victory over Pompey.

"I'm back and it's up to the gaffer now who is going to play," Hamer added.

"If he starts me, I'm ready to play as long as he wants me to play. I'm just glad I got some minutes in the derby, we won 3-0, very good result of course and then we backed it up with our performance [against Portsmouth].

"Six goals in two games and two clean sheets. That's a very good start after the international break.

"We know what we can do, we know what our abilities are so I think we can look forward to the next couple of games."

Chris Wilder felt his team did all the right things to ensure a second successive win and third clean sheet on the bounce as they beat Portsmouth 3-0.

The Blades boss told BBC Radio Sheffield: "A lot of people would be having a peek at us to see how we approached the game after an emphatic win on Sunday, and I thought the players were really good tonight - a lot of boxes ticked, another step forward, another test passed.

"It's not always easy to play against 10 men but I told the players not to get bored of doing the right things, don't get bored of being a decent team, and I thought we looked a decent team tonight.

"The direction of the game changed with the penalty and sending-off but you still have to go and earn the right and we did that."

Rob Staton
BBC Radio Sheffield

Image source, Getty Images

It's been a difficult past few months for Sheffield United fans but winning the Steel City derby was something to enjoy. A big win in their bitter rivals' backyard.

Supporters had about 48 hours to properly soak it in.

Then a controversial report emerged. United's owners, COH, had supposedly contacted Sheffield Wednesday's administrators to make an enquiry.

It's an explosive story, leaving everyone to wonder if COH were checking in on a potential merger plan. Some form of comment was necessary from a group who have not done a single press conference since taking over.

A club address emerged a day later.

The co-owners Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy spoke about the disappointing start to the season. They declared they still aimed to one day get back in the Premier League.

There was a clichéd platitude - "this journey is a marathon, not a sprint" - and a call to "focus all of our energy on supporting Chris (Wilder) and the team".

There was, of course, one glaring omission. There was no denial of the story. Nothing to say the report on contacting Wednesday's administrators was untrue.

I've done a bit of digging and my understanding is there's truth to the original report of contact being made, although it's unclear precisely what the motivations were.

It begs the question, what on earth were they thinking?

What possible logical reason would there be to make contact? Did they think a merger was possible? Anyone in this city will tell you that if you think a merger is an option, you have absolutely no grasp of Sheffield football.

Let's reflect on the last few months of COH's first year of ownership.

They moved Wilder out of the club, appointed Ruben Selles and watched a promotion favourite drop into the Championship's bottom three.

Red faced, they hastily brought Wilder back to rescue things and, now, this story.

COH inherited a healthy club that has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years. They had/have a serial winner in charge of the football side of things in Wilder. There are highly competent people working behind the scenes.

All they needed to do was offer support and leadership. They've done the opposite and created a situation where fans are rightly wondering if they 'get' their club or English football in general.

If there was no enquiry and the reports and chatter are incorrect - say so. If not, and it's all true, it needs to be explained.

And after that explanation, any thought of a merger - if that was the reason for the enquiry - should be consigned to the rubbish bin of bad ideas forever.

Sheffield United are already working hard on what business they want to do in the January transfer window, boss Chris Wilder has said.

The Blades are third-bottom in the Championship after a disastrous start to the season which resulted in Wilder returning to the club in September in place of Ruben Selles.

The Blades have four wins from their 11 games since Wilder was put back in charge.

"There's still an unbelievable amount of work to do, we're still talking about January and we need to move players on and make some difficult decisions," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"If we can get to January and pick up some points, I'm really excited at what we can achieve in the new year. Players will definitely want to come to us in January and we're working hard from that point of view."

Midfielder Ollie Arblaster is back in training after a year out with a serious knee injury but Wilder has ruled out bringing him straight into the squad for Wednesday's home match with Portsmouth.

Wilder said: "He needs to play - if you finish a season in early May you have five weeks off and then your pre-season is about getting your minutes into yourself. He's gone over a year without playing any minutes. We'll try to drip feed him in."

It is 70 years since Portsmouth last won at Bramall Lane and head into Wednesday's game (19:45 GMT) having ended a six-game winless run by beating Millwall 3-1 on Saturday.

The Blades ended their own four-match sequence without a victory by winning the Steel City derby against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday.

• Sheffield United won their last league game against Portsmouth in March, last winning consecutive meetings with Pompey in August 2000.

• Portsmouth are winless in their past 24 away league games against Sheffield United (D4 L20), since a 3-1 win in November 1955. It's both the Blades' longest unbeaten home run against a side and Pompey's longest winless away run in their league histories.

• Sheffield United have won just one of their past eight home league games (D2 L5), while they've also failed to score more than once in any of these games.

• Having won their first away league game of the season against Oxford, Portsmouth are now winless in their past six on the road (D3 L3).

• Sheffield United have had just two different players score for them at Bramall Lane this season, with Tyrese Campbell netting their first two home goals and Callum O'Hare the last two.

Adam Oxley
BBC Radio Sheffield journalist

Image source, Shutterstock

To score one goal in a Steel City derby is always notable. To score a winning goal cements your name in folklore, just ask BBC Radio Sheffield pundit Carl Asaba from the Blades class of 2001.

To score three goals, all in winning derbies, is unprecedented in recent decades and it means Tyrese Campbell won't need to buy a beer ever again in the red and white half of Sheffield.

The 25-year-old is only the fourth player to score three times in Steel City derbies in (at least) the last 45 years, after Sheffield Wednesday's Marcus Tudgay and Sheffield United's Dane Whitehouse and Brian Deane.

And he's only the fourth player to score a brace in this fixture, during the same timeframe.

An early goal was always going to be key between the two sides who remain the lowest scorers in the Championship, and there was more than a hint of deja vu in Campbell's opener in the 3-0 win at Hillsborough.

Last November he scored the only goal as the Blades beat Wednesday 1-0 at Bramall Lane. Dutch midfielder Gus Hamer found Callum O'Hare who slipped in Campbell to score on the left corner of the six-yard box.

This time it was Dutch midfielder Jairo Riedewald who squared the ball to O'Hare and he once again played in Campbell to finish from the left, around six yards out.

History may have repeated itself with that goal, but new ground was broken when Campbell completed his brace after the break and then misfiring striker Tom Cannon finally got his season up and running with the third in added time.

It was the biggest away win – for either side – in Steel City derby history, and it was much needed and timely for both Campbell and Sheffield United.

Such is the Blades dire season so far, three points against their bitter rivals was not enough to lift them out of the Championship relegation zone, with the club still reeling from a string of disastrous decisions by the club's owners COH Sports, including the failed appointment of short-term boss Ruben Selles.

Campbell is one of several players who excelled in last season's promotion push who has subsequently struggled for goals, form and confidence during this campaign's turmoil.

The 25-year-old was the club's top scorer last term, firing in 11 goals, many in key games, after signing for the Blades on a free transfer from Stoke City.

Now the Blades history-making win at Hillsborough has to be the catalyst for more, from Campbell and his team-mates, as Chris Wilder seeks to rebuild from the summer's chaos.

Sheffield United will face much tougher challenges than their beleaguered neighbours, who didn't show up for the 134th Steel City derby.

Wednesday night's home match against fellow strugglers Portsmouth must see Wilder's men capitalise on their derby win, both with another improved performance and another three points.

Victory against Pompey could also see the Blades move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season, if Oxford don't win at Norwich on Tuesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Sheffield United's derby hero Tyrese Campbell believes Sunday's 3-0 win over neighbours Sheffield Wednesday can kickstart their stuttering season.

Campbell scored his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign, sending Chris Wilder's side to just their fourth Championship victory of the season.

The 25-year-old has history in the fixture, scoring the winner at Bramall Lane in November last year and was disappointed not to make it a hat-trick this time around.

"Obviously I scored the winner last year and that gave me confidence and belief," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"I had a couple more chances that I back myself to score. It could have been a lot more than 3-0, but we take it.

"We handled the pressure perfectly, our gameplan worked to perfection."

United have flattered to deceive this season after last term's play-off final defeat at Wembley. They are 22nd in the table, 15 points off the play-off spots but only a point adrift of safety.

"The start [to this season] caught us off guard," Campbell said. "We're just focused on going back up the table and picking up points game by game.

"We worked hard throughout the international break to put things right. We should be a lot higher in the league than we are and we've got to take accountability for that."

Fellow striker Tom Cannon wrapped up the win at Hillsborough in second-half injury time with his first goal of the season in his 14th appearance.

"It's been tough for him, but I'm so delighted he scored," Campbell added. "Hopefully it does the world of good for him. Everyone's been through tough times, but he deserved that."

Image source, Shutterstock Editorial

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder cited his team's hard work without the ball as a key factor in their 3-0 derby triumph at Hillsborough.

Tyrese Campbell took the headlines with a goal in each half before Blades substitute Tom Cannon wrapped up the points with a late third.

"I thought we looked particularly threatening in terms of when we created and the possession we had," Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield. "We defended well, we had a desire to keep another clean sheet and we got after them on the press.

"We were good out of possession and forced them to go long – any little periods of sustained pressure they had, we saw them out.

"We always knew it was going to be a tough afternoon. We were going to have to overcome an honest group of players, which we eventually did.

"I went up to (Sheffield Wednesday duo) Barry Bannan and Liam Palmer at the end of the game, I think the way they've handled the situation and conducted themselves is absolute credit to them not just as professionals but humans really, in terms of what they've had to deal with and galvanise their group."

If you're wondering where your team is going to finish in the Championship this season, you no longer need to worry.

Well, kind of.

Opta's supercomputer has worked its magic to figure out the most likely final league position of every team - and the chances each has of being promoted, making the play-offs or getting relegated.

Who is most likely to win automatic promotion?

It will come as no surprise that leaders Coventry are heavy favourites for the title (69.3%) and also have the highest chance of automatic promotion (84.2%) to the Premier League.

The next most likely to go straight up, with a 30.8% chance, are Middlesbrough. Despite currently sitting seventh and six points behind Boro in second, Ipswich are expected to be the third favourites for a top two finish (18.9%) followed by Stoke (14.1%).

Even though they've each enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, Preston (10.3%), Hull (6.1%) and Millwall (8.3%) have slimmer chances of finishing in an automatic promotion spot.

Who will make the play-offs?

Image source, Rex Features

Even if Coventry don't win automatic promotion, Opta's supercomputer has given the Sky Blues a 97.9% chance of a top-six finish, suggesting it's almost guaranteed.

Each of Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Preston and Stoke are expected to finish in a minimum of a play-off position at least one in two times.

Hull might feel the hardest done by as they sit fifth currently, but are said to have less chance (32.3%) than Millwall (38.8%) and Charton (32.4%), who are below them in the table.

The most likely of the chasing pack to make a surge up the table are 12th-placed Leicester City, who have been given a 31.8% chance of finishing in the top six and are more likely than Bristol City (28.9%), Derby (22.9%) and Birmingham (19.9%).

Last season's beaten play-off finalists Sheffield United have just a 1.8% chance of recovering their season to make the play-offs again, while relegated Premier League side Southampton (12.5%) aren't likely to either... if you trust the supercomputer!

Who is going down?

Image source, Rex Features

It's probably not hard to work out who is most likely to finish bottom and be relegated to League One.

Sheffield Wednesday's 12-point deduction, which has left them 17 points adrift of safety on -4 points, means they're pretty much nailed on to finish bottom (84.8%) - and failing that, are almost certain to go down (98.2%).

Second from bottom Norwich are the next most likely candidates to fall through the trap door (58.5%) but Sheffield United, who currently occupy the final relegation spot, have just a 22.4% chance of going down and are considered more likely to stay up than Oxford (37.8%) and Portsmouth (31.3%).