Sheffield United

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

This week, he takes on All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Claudio Castagnoli.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Who on earth do I go with here?

Burnley have the worst home record in the Premier League, with seven defeats out of seven, while Sheffield United boast the worst away record, with one point from six games so far.

I keep saying the Clarets will get a draw when they play at Turf Moor, and I keep being wrong, but I don't really have much choice this time - I don't really want to back Burnley, but Sheffield United were so bad last week that I don't want to back them either.

Bournemouth beat the Blades 3-1 at Bramall Lane last weekend, but they could have absolutely wiped the floor with them - the scoreline flattered Paul Heckingbottom's side.

So I am going for a draw. If I'm wrong and there is a winner, then it could be a problem for whichever manager does lose.

It is one thing being beaten by the top teams but losing to the teams in and around you is damaging, and would really increase the pressure on Heckingbottom, or Burnley boss Vincent Kompany.

Claudio's prediction: 0-2

Read the rest of their predictions here

Burnley v Sheffield United is a big, big game. Both sides desperately need to get a result, but there is still hope for both teams in the relegation fight.

They have to realise that they can get a run of fixtures at any point. The saving grace is Everton’s big points deduction. At that point, you have to say they have a chance and are back in it. Luton Town are picking up results and Bournemouth are sneaking away, but everything is still around at the moment and nobody is relegated yet.

Both Vincent Kompany and Paul Heckingbottom are still in their jobs because everybody in the two football clubs sees exactly what they are like. They see how much work they put in, their aura around the training ground, how they conduct themselves.

I know both of them and I see their work ethic. They have good support staff, good understanding with the players and that is the reason.

Clubs are trying their best with longevity to continue the journey they are on. That’s the reason they haven’t gone and they believe they can take the club forward.

But things can change at any moment and you are never safe.

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Burnley and Sheffield United meet on Saturday having picked up just one win each in the Premier League this season - but the pressure on each manager appears to be different.

Podcasters Natalie Bromley and Phil Ridley tell The Football News Show what the future could hold for Vincent Kompany and Paul Heckingbottom, and why the outcome of this game is more crucial for the Blades boss.

Watch The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer

Katie Catherall, BBC Sport

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom has been speaking to the media before his side face Burnley on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• On the role that fans play in motivating the team: "Our fans have been great, they're good at home and away. Fans know the importance they play at home, we want to make it a tough place to come."

• Heckingbottom said it is important to "keep momentum going", even when members of the squad are injured.

• On games after the international break: "Everyone is asking if the international break was at a good time – there's arguments go both ways. It comes at the time when you know it will, we have to plan for that and get the most out of the boys. We did what we could to get everyone ready for the Bournemouth game."

• On tactic changes after the defeat to Bournemouth: "We dropped below our standards, we were too sloppy. We won't win games in this league like that. We worked, the effort was there, we ran further than them, the furthest distance we've covered this season. But we gave the ball away too much and we got that wrong."

• Heckingbottom confirmed that Rhys Norrington-Davies has been in training: "Day by day we'll increase what he does, he's on his own programme and using us when he needs. What he needs is football, so we're testing and training."

• On Oli McBurnie's return: "He benefited from that 45 mins of play but you could see he'd been out. He's had another week of training which is good - he's in a much better place this week."

• Heckingbottom was asked if he is facing pressure from the board to secure a victory: "No different conversations to normal. There's pressure from us because we want to win. I expect us to go out and win. We do it our way, Burnley have spent money, but while they were spending we used our academy and worked hard."

• On having to regularly change the squad: "We’ve changed every game because we’ve had to, I'd love to get some consistency and start working with the same group of players every week on the training ground. Unfortunately one of our issues is there’s been too many enforced changes, whether that’s selling players, recruiting late, getting injuries, we need that to settle down."

• On expectations against Burnley: "We expect to win games. We put in work on the training ground. We're still in the same league as them so it shows we’re doing things right and we’ll continue to think that way."

• On facing Vincent Kompany: "Kompany is still sticking to his principles, he's finding it more difficult, it's a more difficult league. While there’s been a slight change in his shape he’s tried to stick to his principles and play the same way."

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• Burnley have won four of their past five home league games against Sheffield United (D1), beating them 2-0 at Turf Moor in the Championship last season.

• The Blades have never lost a Premier League game against sides starting the day bottom of the table (W4 D7) - their last being a 1-1 draw with Fulham in October 2020.

• Clarets winger Luca Koleosho has had more touches in the opposition box than any other player who is yet to score in the Premier League this season (48).

• Sheffield United have lost 25 of their past 30 Premier League away games (W2 D3).

• Burnley have lost all seven of their Premier League home games this season and could become the first team in English Football League history to lose their first eight in a campaign.

Only once in the past 10 years have we waited until the new year before the first managerial sacking in the Premier League. So with no bosses getting the boot so far in 2023-24, what is going on?

Former Blackpool and Crystal Palace boss Ian Holloway tells The Football News Show that teams coming up with a distinctive style is contributing to the low attrition rate and adds why he believes longevity is beneficial for all clubs.

Watch The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer

Image source, Getty Images

Former Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka has announced his retirement from football at the age of 41.

The Englishman, who played for Stoke as recently as last season, played for the Blades for seven years, as well as making 40 appearances for England.

“All good things come to an end and after just over 800 appearances my playing career is done," Jagielka said on Instagram.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would get to play football at the highest level for some amazing clubs as well as my country.

“It’s been an absolute honour to step onto the grass for every match and I have so many people to thank for that.

"I would like to thank every player, manager, coach, member of staff and fan who has played their part in my long football journey. I'll be forever grateful for your support"

Ben Meakin, BladesPod, external

The pressure is mounting on manager Paul Heckingbottom, but Sheffield United have approached promotion in such a counterintuitive way that I wonder if the club will retain him as boss regardless of how the next few weeks go.

Defeat by Bournemouth leaves the Blades seven points behind the Cherries. Given that it's taken us 13 games to cobble together five points, that already looks like a near-insurmountable gap to a supposed relegation rival.

It’s fair to say that Heckingbottom has been dealt a bad hand this season with the players who left, the ones who’ve been brought in (although he had at least some say in that) and the injuries. He also clearly didn’t tell Wes Foderingham to gift Bournemouth a second goal, or for Luke Thomas to inexplicably leave a drop-ball for the Cherries to counter and score from. But both errors are typical of a poorly drilled side lacking clarity of thought.

However, it’s also fair to expect more out of the team than the lifeless, hopeless performances we’ve sat through for most of the season so far. Persisting with the Norwood-Souza axis of uncreativity is one thing, but having two shots in the first half against Bournemouth – both snapshots from distance – is pathetic. Sadly, it’s also not an outlier for us this season.

Rightly or wrongly, I’m sure the vast majority of other clubs would have changed manager by now. However, United have approached this season with such a prioritisation of off-field matters (allegedly with a view to selling the club) that I can foresee the hierarchy choosing to just ride out the rest of the campaign with Heckingbottom rather than fork out for a change.

Oddly, I can see the logic in such an approach. If this season is a lost cause anyway, why change manager when the best-case scenario is probably a 19th-place finish? It might well be better to spend the next seven months getting things lined up for next season - whether that’s with Heckingbottom or a new manager.

Unfortunately, though, that is likely to mean another 25 games of pain for fans who’ve had very little to smile about since promotion was clinched last spring.

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Image source, Getty Images

Here are some Sheffield United fan reactions to the game against Bournemouth on Saturday:

Reece: What I am going to say is in the context of accepting that the players aren’t that great and we need to spend more money. But, regardless of that, I cannot stress enough how poorly managed this team is and has been every half of this season.

Tom: I’ve been a season-ticket holder for 20 years. It was spineless, gutless and it is right from the very top. He’s got to go - Paul has got to walk.

I don’t think we ever really got going. Last year, I believe any half-competent manager could have come in and taken that side up. We were in the championship with a £150m squad; you’ve got Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge. Everyone's got their opinions on Berge, I didn’t like him, but you are in a league with a £150m squad, you should get out of it.

My first signing would have been a new manager because I don’t think we exactly ripped it up last year. I don’t think we’ve really had an identity or a style of play under Heckingbottom. We kind of tried to do what Chris Wilder did and we’ve not matched the levels he reached. I don’t think he’s had a plan of action or an identity from minute one.

Barry: I’ve been a Blade for over 55 years and it's difficult when you look back on bad performances because you forget some really terrible ones. That really was a bad performance. You have got 30,000 Blades there on the run up to Christmas paying hard-earned money to go watch their football team and we’re not getting the same performances from the players. All we ask, I would say as a Sheffield United fan, is to give 100% and to chase, run and encourage. They need to be cohesive. Be passionate. Be determined. There was none of that and I must admit that it is very, very worrying.

Listen to the Blades Heaven podcast on BBC Sounds

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's match between Sheffield United and Bournemouth.

Here are some of your comments:

Sheffield United fans

Yip: Players are poor quality, the coaching staff are out of their depth and the management team clueless. Wholesale changes required for the sake of the long-suffering fans.

David: This United team is worse than the one which got promoted and there’s only one person to blame - the owner! He’s owned the club for three Premier League seasons and two Championship seasons with parachute payments yet still he couldn’t pay the bills last season and gave the manager just £20m to 'improve' the side.

Bob: The Blades do not have either the skills or know-how needed to compete at this level. Once again they were so bad it was embarrassing! We need a new manager, new players and new owners for our club.

Paul: How does Heckingbottom survive that? An international break to prepare the team for a crucial six-pointer and the team was totally flat. No heart, no fight and the crowd responded accordingly. I predicted the two half-time substitutions to a tee, which wasn't difficult. Wilder anyone?

Bournemouth fans

Kelvin: The Iraola era is finally here. You have seen the team grow over the last few weeks and Bournemouth fans can now look forward to the rest of the season with optimism. Come on you Cherries.

Steve: Bournemouth have been at the bottom but are nowhere near a relegation team. A very tough opening fixture list and many new players adapting to new manager Iraola’s style of play has taken time. But Cherries were a totally different class to Sheffield United, who are doomed. AFCB mid-table by season's end. Playing cracking football.

Stew: Really well done. Hopefully things really seem to be coming together. Six points from the last two games is very good, when a month ago we would have been happy with one or two. And, to top it off, we are not running at full strength. Dare I say the future looks bright?

Charl: Another good performance based on hard work and an understanding of the game plan. Semenyo is proving to be a bargain, why was he taken off? We won virtually every loose ball and the passing was excellent. One area where we must improve - free-kicks and corners. We’re wasting opportunities.

Sheffield United Striker Oli McBurnie discussed their defeat against Bournemouth on the Blades Heaven podcast: "It is very fresh so all I know is that it is nowhere near good enough. It’s strange it sort of looks like they took us by surprise, when we knew what they were going to be about.

"There is no point coming out here making excuses, we were just miles off it today and we deserve it, we got beat.

"We just spoke about it in the dressing room, straight from the start it wasn’t a performance we had been speaking about and the boys had done in the last few games, it is a strange one, we can’t put our finger on it, we can’t make any excuses for it. It is not good enough. We need to be better next week in the big game.

"We need to look at ourselves, nobody is going to help us, nobody is going to make it easier for us. We are the boys out there. The performance levels from the boys are nowhere near what we needed to be at today.

"Only we can sort it. We’ll do the analysis and look back at it. I’m sure the gaffer will say a few hard truths that need to be heard, it’s probably what we need. We’ve got a big game next week and we’ll put everything in the past.

"I think me and Anel Ahmedhodzic were a bit disappointed not to play today but the gaffer's probably made the right decision because we were miles off it when we came on. I think having a few boys back for the game next week will be better, but at the end of the day it is down to us. The performance levels were nowhere near good enough to a get a result in this division."

McBurnie on why him and Ahmedhodzic were left out of the squad: "The team was the same for the last game and the boys have done well for the last two games. Me and Anel have been out short of fitness. We’ve only trained a couple of times and kind of rushed back in for this game but like I said he’s made the right decision because when we did go back on we were miles off it."

McBurnie on their next match against Burnley: "It is a team that is in and around us like the gaffer says in our own mini league and these are the games we need to be picking up points from. We know what Burnley are about, we played them two times last year, but we know what we can do against them to hurt them.

"So we will look at ourselves today, where we went wrong and put that to bed and all we can do is show it next week."

Listen to the full podcast here on BBC Sounds

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer here.

And Match of the Day 2 brings you a round-up of Sunday's games here.

Listen back to Saturday's commentaries in full on BBC Sounds:

Newcastle 4 -1 Chelsea

Brentford 0 -1 Arsenal

Listen to Sunday's commentaries here:

Tottenham 1 - 2 Aston Villa

Everton 0 - 3 Manchester United

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "We started poorly and then when we were going to give ourselves an opportunity to get back into the game, we conceded two really poor goals.

"When you're conceding goals like that, particularly, in this league, you're not going to give yourselves a chance.

"But we can't hide behind that, before that we have to be better. We dropped well below our standards that we've set this season, particularly in the last two games.

"We knew Bournemouth would try to start that way. We never really recovered. To concede the way we did before half-time then makes it difficult.

"Mistakes are mistakes, we have to make sure we perform better and get that our of our system for next week which is another big game.

"We know as a group that that wasn't good enough. We need to be better and generally we have been. We did keep going until the end, the effort was that but we dropped below our usual standards.

"You've got no option but to pick yourself up. There is always another game. A tricky game away but a team that is down there with us.

"Regardless of who we're playing, we're fighting for points to stay in this league. We can't put all our eggs in any one basket, we need points wherever they come."

By Sam Drury, BBC Sport

After a pair of morale-boosting results prior to the international break, this felt like a damaging defeat for Sheffield United.

Bournemouth started the day four points ahead of the Blades but if this was supposed to be a match between two relegation rivals, it did not look like one.

The visitors were a class above and, in the first half, Paul Heckingbottom's side lacked the intensity to help close the gap.

While the defence was cut open time and again, there was nothing coming from the attack to help relieve the pressure.

It took until the 88th minute for the home side to register a shot on target and by that stage the game was long since lost.

With a huge game at Burnley next weekend, the pressure is on the Blades to rediscover their form prior to the break and prevent the gap to the sides above them quickly becoming unmanageable.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Latchem, BBC Match of the Day commentator at Brammall Lane:

"A tale of two ends of the ground at the end of the game at Bramall Lane - the home end, thinning rapidly as the final minutes played out were completely deflated seeing their team outplayed on home soil. Many had already left the ground before Oli McBurnie's late consolation header.

"Unsurprisingly, Bournemouth's travelling hoard stayed well beyond the final whistle to serenade their team. And why not?

"Like in the Newcastle game, Bournemouth were worthy winners who could have had more than their final tally. Wes Foderingham dropped a bit of a clanger for their second but did well to deny them a fourth, fifth and perhaps sixth goal.

"Bournemouth are playing their best football since Eddie Howe left in 2020. It's taken time but Andoni Iraola seems to have them purring."

• Having failed to win any of their first nine Premier League games of 2023-24 (D3 L6), Bournemouth have since won three of their last four in the top-flight (L1).

• Bournemouth forward Justin Kluivert became just the second player to score in each of the big 5 European leagues (Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and German Bundesliga) in the 21st century, after Stevan

• Sheffield United have conceded 34 goals in the Premier League this season, the most by a side after 13 games in a top-flight campaign since Barnsley (36) and Sheffield Wednesday (35) both in 1997-98.

• Bournemouth secured their first away Premier League win since a 1-0 win at Southampton in April, winning an away top-flight game by 2 or more goals for the first time since July 2020 (3-1 at Everton).

• The Blades have failed to win any other their last 17 Premier League games when starting the day off the bottom of the table (D2 L15). However, each of their last eight top-flight wins have come when they’ve been bottom.

Justin Kluivert became only the third player to score in Europe's top five leagues as Bournemouth moved seven points clear of the relegation places with a dominant 3-1 win at Sheffield United.

Earlier, Marcus Tavernier had given Andoni Iraola's side an early lead after good work from Antoine Semenyo cutting in from the right, before Kluivert dispossessed Foderingham on the edge of the box to double the lead in first-half stoppage time.

The Blades offered little in an insipid display, and the result was put almost beyond doubt when Tavernier converted Adam Smith's cross at the back post for his second of the afternoon, six minutes into the second half.

Oli McBurnie headed in a consolation in the seventh minute of added time, but the goal was greeted only by ironic cheers from the home supporters.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from home?

Sheffield United fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Bournemouth fans?

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There are seven games being played in the Premier League on Saturday and we will bring you every moment.

Follow all of the action and reaction here

Live commentaries:

Newcastle v Chelsea - BBC Radio 5 Live

Brentford v Arsenal - BBC Radio 5 Live

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