Two early-season strugglers prepare for battle at Bramall Lane in Saturday’s lunchtime Premier League kickoff, as Sheffield United lock horns with Everton.
While the Blades’ dismal run continued with an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Lincoln City in midweek, the Toffees finally found their shooting boots to see off Doncaster Rovers 2-1.
A harsh welcome back to life with the big boys saw Sheffield United suffer back-to-back defeats to Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest in the opening two gameweeks of the Premier League season, and few held out hope of a surprise beating of Manchester City last weekend.
Battered and bruised by the rough treatment he received from the Blades backline, Erling Haaland’s customary goal came after he had missed a penalty, but a horror mistake from ex-Sheffield United man Kyle Walker allowed Jayden Bogle to level the scores with 85 minutes gone, only for Rodri to fire a venomous winner into the top corner.
While Paul Heckingbottom’s men could have taken encouragement from their endeavours against the treble winners, the less said about their EFL Cup tie with Lincoln City the better, as a rotated Blades team could not find a way through the League One team’s backline – despite having 71% of the ball – and eventually lost on spot kicks.
One early cup exit at least means that 17th-placed Sheffield United can purely focus on the basement battle before the FA Cup commences, but their record now reads four defeats from their opening four games of the season – three of which have come in front of their own fans at Bramall Lane.
Another member of the four-strong Premier League pointless club – which also comprises Burnley and Luton Town, who each have a game in hand – Everton were somewhat unfortunate to come up against an inspired Jose Sa during last weekend’s visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers, as their goalscoring woes reared their ugly heads once more.
Following a disheartening 1-0 loss to Fulham and confidence-crushing 4-0 drubbing on Aston Villa’s turf, the Toffees tried and failed on numerous occasions to breach the Wolves backline, before the towering Sasa Kalajdzic left Jordan Pickford rooted to the spot with a bottom corner-bound header in the 87th minute.
Already sliding to the foot of the table owing to their trio of goalless defeats – which represents their worst-ever start to a Premier League season – Everton experienced some rare joy in front of goal during their EFL Cup battle with Doncaster Rovers, where new signing Beto got off the mark straight away and Arnaut Danjuma completed the turnaround after a Joe Ironside opener.
A few flashbacks may have been evoked when Everton were drawn away to Villa in round four, but for now, Sean Dyche’s side seek to avoid losing four Premier League games on the bounce for the first time since March 2022, where they coincidentally failed to score in all of their beatings at the hands of Southampton, Man City, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves.
Before Sheffield United sunk down to the second tier in 2021, the Blades gave their fans a parting gift with a 1-0 win at Goodison Park thanks to an early Daniel Jebbison strike, prior to which the Toffees had won their most recent two Bramall Lane battles by the same tally, and many will expect that low-scoring trend to continue here.
Injury was added to insult when Sheffield United went down to Man City last weekend, as Ben Osborn was on the field for a mere 17 minutes before being withdrawn due to a groin issue, and the 29-year-old will not be returning to action anytime soon.
As the club wait to learn the full extent of Osborn’s diagnosis, Leicester City’s Luke Thomas has arrived on loan, although Yasser Larouci is a more likely candidate to fill in for Osborn against the Toffees, while Tom Davies is short of match fitness and may not reunite with his former club.
Daniel Jebbison (illness), Max Lowe (ankle), Rhys Norrington-Davies (thigh), Rhian Brewster (thigh) and John Fleck (leg) are also missing, while Cameron Archer failed to make an impact on his debut against Lincoln City but could hold his spot alongside Benie Traore in attack.
Deadline day also saw the return of Manchester City’s James McAtee to Bramall Lane on loan, but it is unclear if the 20-year-old was registered by the 12pm cut-off point on Friday.
While Archer’s debut for the Blades left something to be desired, Beto needed just 27 minutes to open his account after arriving from Udinese, and the 25-year-old should now be deemed ready for his first Toffees start by Dyche.
Fellow striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in the final stages of his recovery from a nasty cheekbone fracture and has an outside chance of playing, but Seamus Coleman (knee), Alex Iwobi (thigh), Dele Alli (groin) and Jack Harrison (groin) will not return until the international break is over.
However, the duo of Dwight McNeil (ankle) and Andre Gomes (calf) are thought to be in with slim chances of returning on Saturday, while Vitaliy Mykolenko came off injured against Doncaster and should drop out for Ashley Young.
Sheffield United possible starting lineup:
Foderingham; Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson; Baldock, Hamer, Souza, Norwood, Larouci; Traore, Archer
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Patterson, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young; Gueye; Garner, Onana, Doucoure, Danjuma; Beto
We say: Sheffield United 1-1 Everton
Having belatedly got off the mark on the goalscoring front versus Doncaster, the Beto-led Everton can also consign their Premier League attacking woes to the past against a Sheffield United side reeling from two painful beatings in the space of a few days.
However, the Blades produced a praiseworthy display against Man City and are more than capable of recovering from a one-goal deficit to deny Everton their first maximum of the Premier League season, although a low-scoring stalemate would also prolong the hosts’ own wait for top-flight success.
