Sheffield United

Rodri scored a late winner to earn Manchester City victory over battling Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Jayden Bogle thought he had earned the Blades a point with a drilled equaliser after 85 minutes, but Spain midfielder Rodri blasted into the top left corner three minutes later to give City the win.

Erling Haaland missed a first half penalty, before heading the opener from Jack Grealish's cross after the break.

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

Blades fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

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

Follow all the reaction here

There are three games being played in the Premier League on Sunday and we'll bring you every moment.

Follow all the action and reaction to yesterday's matches here

Image source, BBC

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

His opponent for this weekend's fixtures is Nothing But Thieves guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown, who is an Arsenal fan.

Sutton's prediction: 0-4

Sheffield United are in massive trouble. They sold their best player Iliman Ndiaye to Marseille and, while they have brought a couple in, they will be in a fight.

They fought well against Nottingham Forest but lost late on. Crystal Palace beat them 1-0 on the opening day but wiped the floor with them, it wasn't a close 1-0.

And now they have Manchester City in town, who I think will win 4-0.

Joe's prediction: I am obviously hoping for a Blades win, but I've got to pick up some points myself. 0-3

Read the rest of Sutton and Joe's predictions here

Image source, Getty Images

Cameron Archer said playing regular football was one of the key factors behind his move to Sheffield United from Aston Villa.

The striker has signed a four-year deal with the Blades for an undisclosed fee.

After putting pen to paper, he said: "Everyone is happy if they are playing football regularly. That's something I want to do now.

"I think it was important to come here and look for Premier League football, that was key for me because I want to make that next step now and challenge myself. Hopefully I can do that here.

"Sheffield United have a long history of developing players in terms of playing and hopefully making better people as well."

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom says Pep Guardiola will find being away from the touchline difficult.

Guardiola is recovering from a back surgery and will miss his side's trip to Bramall Lane on Sunday, when assistant manager Juanma Lillo will take charge.

Heckingbottom does not believe the absence will affect City's players, but added: “I have experienced not being there and I hated it. I presume Pep will be the same.

“It’s worse for the manager missing games than the players performing. He won’t enjoy it. I will guarantee that. He will be wishing he was there.”

Former Sheffield United forward Carl Asaba joined BBC Radio Sheffield's Blades Heaven podcast to discuss what the club might still need as they head into the final week of the summer transfer window.

Listen to the full episode now on BBC Sounds

Paul Heckingbottom has been speaking to the media before Sheffield United's Premier League game against Manchester City at Bramall Lane on Sunday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Asked about the reason for the delay in signing striker Cameron Archer from Aston Villa, Heckingbottom said: "It's out of my hands, I don't know. I'm hoping it's happening, I would have loved and Cameron would have loved to have got it over the line to be involved on Sunday, but we haven't done it yet."

• Heckingbottom wants his new signings to be "fearless" and not be worried about making errors: "Our environment I think is pretty simple, but not everyone believes what you say, I'm expecting mistakes. If we're going to compete with these clubs week on week, we have to be fearless and we have to be at our very best to win games. To be at your very best, you can't be holding back. That is our approach, sometimes it will work, sometimes it will cost us but we want to keep improving."

• On the challenge of facing champions Manchester City, he said: "We've got to be at our very, very best. There are going to be moments where we are going to have to be a bit aggressive and take risks, we know that if we want to get a result, create chances and score goals. At the same time, you have to accept they're the moments when they can capitalise and get their good moments."

• Asked if any lessons could be learned from their FA Cup semi-final loss to City at Wembley last season, Heckingbottom added: "Mistakes were punished and the game went away from us. We know we've got to almost play the perfect game. Their team will be different, obviously ours is very much different. It's a different occasion. Tactically, we know what problems City pose and what they'll try to do against our system. What we don't know is the personnel that will be in those key positions which they try to hold."

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Image source, Getty Images

Former Sheffield United striker Carl Asaba won't write Sheffield United off in their game against champions Manchester City.

The Treble winners visit Bramall Lane on Sunday, and Asba told the Blades Heaven podcast that Paul Heckingbottom's side have a chance of pulling off a surprise result in front of their own fans: "It is Man City, but it’s Bramall Lane and it’s going to be a cup final for us.

"We have 36 cup finals to play, and you need to get the players in as soon as possible.

"You treat it as you're in the same division as the other club and any club on their day can win. Hecky [Paul Heckingbottom] is going out to win, he’s not going out to lose 5-0.

"We played them at Wembley in a semi-final of a cup and apart from an unfortunate penalty we gave a good account of ourselves first half. We're going to be at home and anything can happen. Don’t write us off.

"Man City are the best team in the world, they can come with complacency. The manager isn’t going to be there. One of the players just need to have an off day and do something silly, anything can happen

"To get further down the evolution of the squad he [Paul Heckingbottom] does need to concentrate that it’s a normal match. They've got to get the fitness up, the relationships on the pitch and learn the patterns of play. It’s an important match, what better an occasion to turn over the odds."

Listen to the full Blades Heaven episode here

Sheffield United are in talks with French club Troyes over a deal for 27-year-old Guinea-Bissau winger Mama Balde. (L'Equipe - in French), external

The Blades are also keen to re-sign young midfielders James McAtee and Tommy Doyle on loan from Manchester City, with both players far down the Premier League champions' pecking order. (Sheffield Star), external

Want more transfer news? Read Friday's full gossip column

Former Sheffield United striker Carl Asaba tells the latest episode of the Blades Heaven podcast that he would be "really excited" to see Cameron Archer join Paul Heckingbottom's side and hopes the club's owners have backed the manager.

Listen now on BBC Sounds

• Man City have never lost a Premier League game against Sheffield United (W7 D3), with their last top-flight defeat against them coming in February 1992 (2-4 at Bramall Lane).

• None of Sheffield United’s last 26 Premier League matches have ended as a draw (W7 L19) since a 1-1 draw with Brighton in December 2020. The last team to have a longer run were Arsenal between February and October 2022 (27 games in a row).

• Manchester City have conceded just one goal in their 10 Premier League games against Sheffield United. Their clean sheet ratio of 90% against the Blades is the highest one team has against another in the competition (min. five meetings).

• Gustavo Hamer scored on his Premier League debut for Sheffield United in their 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest. The only player to score in his first two Premier League appearances for the Blades is Brian Deane in their first two games in the competition in August 1992.

• Julian Alvarez netted his 10th Premier League goal for Manchester City in their 1-0 win over Newcastle, with his last three goals all being the winning goal in the game. City have won all nine games when Alvarez has scored, with only Chris Smalling scoring in more Premier League games and ending on the winning side each time in Premier League history (11).

Sheffield United are closing on an £18.5m move for 21-year-old Aston Villa striker Cameron Archer. (Guardian, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Rob Staton, BBC Radio Sheffield

The Blades could have easily taken something from the game at Nottingham Forest and now they face the nice, easy task of hosting Manchester City.

This is something of a free hit for United, with no expectation of a huge upset. Fans have even called our show to suggest treating the game almost like a pre-season match, an opportunity to bed new players in. I’m not sure you can do that against Erling Haaland and co.

There is an expectation that by the weekend another new signing will be completed. Cameron Archer seems like the most likely deal to get done, with Aston Villa prepared to sell. This has been a link for some time and has felt like a complicated deal with a decent fee and a buy-back clause.

Archer had a decent half-season at Middlesbrough on loan and contributed towards the England Under 21’s Euro success this summer. He would be an intriguing signing, yet some Blades fans can be forgiven for seeing similarities to the Rhian Brewster signing, which hasn’t worked out.

They need some firepower though, one way or another. The feeling is that the Crystal Palace and Forest games were two missed opportunities, because United haven’t given Paul Heckingbottom a squad ready to start the season.

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Ben Meakin, BladesPod, external

It’s going to be a big two weeks for Sheffield United as the transfer deadline looms. Two weeks that will tell us if we’ll have a serious tilt at survival this season, or whether we’re in for another long season like our last Covid-affected top-flight campaign.

Even with our limited budget, and the arrivals of seven players since the end of last season, we simply have to make more moves in the market in order to give ourselves a chance. Those seven arrivals are offset by numerous departures over the summer and only three new signings have been deemed ready for a Premier League start so far.

With only one loan slot used, it will be baffling if we don’t dip further into the loan market to at least fill out the squad before the deadline. We’ve been forced to name benches filled with players who’ve barely – or in some cases, never – played league football before, which is arguably harming their own development as well as our survival chances.

I understand that better players usually only become available for loan later on in transfer windows, something that United fans witnessed first-hand with Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolves two years ago.

I’m still holding out hope for at least one loanee of that calibre but, with injuries already biting and the squad as it is, pretty much any half-decent striker in Europe strolls into our first team right now.

Surely there’s someone out there who fancies showcasing themselves in the Premier League shop window for a season? The next two weeks will tell us a lot about our chances for the rest of the campaign.

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We asked for your views on Friday's game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United.

Here are some of your comments:

Nottingham Forest fans

Keith: Great start by Forest, really thought we would easily win. Credit to Sheffield United, after equalising they put us to the sword. The defence for Forest coped, but no disrespect to United, a better team would have made us pay. We obviously need to strengthen the midfield and defence. Why Ryan Yates does not start is a mystery.

Dave: Chris Wood did the business! I feel sorry for him as he gets a lot of stick because he didn't do much last season. To be fair, we had someone who can head the ball that well and we never crossed to his head at all last season when he played. I hope this will give him some confidence and he may be a useful player for us this season.

Claire: What impressed me most about the game was we went out attacking and didn’t give up. Last season we would have sat back and been happy for the draw, but not this season. We saw it last week at Arsenal and we showed it again against Sheffield United. The subs carried on and say all you want about Wood, but that’s twice now he’s made an impact.

Jamie: On the one hand, this would have been a game we would have drawn or possibly lost last season. On the other, we really have to learn how to kill games off, if only to take the pressure off of Taiwo and Chris. McKenna had a rough night, hopefully a blip, but there were a lot of positives, especially the three points against a pressing team.

Sheffield United fans

Colin: Much improved performance from the Palace game. With a bit more luck in their area we could have scored more. It's a bit worrying that both goals were scored from the centre of our defence. Still, it's only Man City next so we can expect at least a point from that game!

Michael: Blades deserved at least a draw and, with better finishing, could have taken all three. They still need three or four quality signings but they could surprise everyone and avoid relegation with that type of performance.

Paul: Cannot compete if you don’t invest in quality players. The kids on pitch for United are miles away from Premier league. Having said that, we were the better team in much of the second half. We lost two influencing players and had nothing to replace them. Man City up next!

Tony: Super effort by United. Cooper said Forest were far superior. That sort of delusion may cost them dearly.