Sheffield United vs Manchester City preview, team news, tickets & prediction
The Blades would be desperate to get their season up and running with a huge scalp in front of their passionate fans on Sunday.
Sheffield United had a memorable campaign last term as they secured automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking. However, they have begun their season with back-to-back defeats on their return to the top flight.
A narrow home loss to Crystal Palace was followed by a last-gasp defeat at Nottingham Forest so the Blades must get valuable points in their next home game where they won 16 of their 23 league games in the Championship last season.
Yet, they lost 11, won seven and drew one at Bramall Lane the last time Sheffield United were in the Premier League. The most difficult of visitors are up next as Manchester City come to town on matchday three of the new season.
The stats do not make for good reading for Paul Heckingbottom and Sheffield fans who have faced Man City a total of 18 times since 1993 and lost nine of them, drawing another six.
The South Yorkshire side will also have Erling Haaland to contend with as the Premier League Golden Boot winner scored with his first touch of the season inside four minutes against Burnley, before adding another to continue his exceptional goalscoring form.
Manchester City will see the trip to Sheffield United as another litmus test early in the season as they are now used to teams being well-motivated to face them.
Despite this, Pep Guardiola’s men have won all five of their recent encounters without conceding a goal, following the 11-year break without a fixture against Sheffield.
The Cityzens also beat newly-promoted Burnley 3-0 away for a perfect start to their Premier League title defence and the quest for an unprecedented four in a row.
Although their 2022/23 Premier League campaign ended with an away draw against Brighton and defeat to Brentford, Man City have won 12 of their last 20 league games on the road.
Indeed, their 40 away points since the start of last season are unmatched by any other team in the English top flight.
Match tickets
This game is scheduled to take place on Sunday 27th August at 2pm UK time. Bramall Lane in the City of Sheffield will take centre stage as the Blades face a herculean task against the best team in the world right now.
Tickets have been made available on the website of both clubs but the stadium is expected to be sold out with United fans showing up at the only place to watch Premier League football in town. Hence, getting admission for Sheffield United vs Manchester City tickets could prove difficult for some.
The partisan crowd is expected to be in full voice but you can still secure a spot in the away end via ticket reselling sites.
Team news
The likes of Auston Trusty, Vini Souza, Tom Davies, Gustavo Hamer, Anis Slimane and Benie Traore have been brought in by Sheffield in order to fight for survival this season. Heckingbottom would still be hoping for more additions and a clean bill of health given their results so far.
United will be without Anis Slimane, John Fleck, Rhian Brewster, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Ismaila Coulibaly and Jayden Bogle, through injuries while Daniel Jebbison and Oliver McBurnie remain doubtful to feature against the Premier League champions.
Guardiola is having to build upon his greatest Man City side ever and the moves have been understandably calculated. After losing serial winners Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan, the Sky Blues have added Croatian pair Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively.
Although a couple of more arrivals are expected, Man City are coming to terms with the hamstring injury sustained by Kevin De Bruyne in their win over Burnley which will keep the Belgian out for a few months. The midfielder joins Zack Steffen, Bernardo Silva and John Stones as injury absences for the Sheffield game which may see a return for central defender Ruben Dias.
Line-ups
Heckingbottom has yet been unable to work with his strongest team as a number of key players remain out injured. This poses a huge problem for the 46-year-old who goes into important games without his best players and needing a massive performance from those available.
Nevertheless, one of his easier decisions would be to keep Gustavo Hamer in the starting 11 after his goal last time out at Nottingham Forest. In attack, Sheffield must also continue with the 20-year-old pairing of Traore and Osula.
Sheffield United: Foderingham; Robinson, Egan, Ahmedhodzic; Osborn, Souza, Norwood, Lowe; Traore, Hamer; Osula
Guardiola is notorious for making changes to his Man City team on a game-by-game basis and the sheer amount of matches they will play this season makes rotation a must. It will be interesting to see how they cover the void left by De Bruyne’s absence over the coming weeks.
The priority will remain to create an enabling environment to supply goalscoring opportunities for Haaland who has now scored 100 goals in Europe’s top five leagues since January 2020. With a natural midfield pivot in the absence of Stones, the more pertinent tweaks should occur in the front four where Phil Foden and Cole Palmer could have huge roles to play.
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Kovacic; Palmer, Foden, Grealish; Haaland
Prediction
Sheffield last faced City at Wembley when they met in the FA Cup semi-final last season with the Premier League side beating their counterparts 3-0 on the way to a historic treble. Furthermore, the Mancunians have an excellent record against newly-promoted sides having gone unbeaten in their last 13 such matches
Is there a chance for Sheffield? Definitely not on paper, but the proud hosts will be doing all their basics right and putting the maximum effort in an attempt to make this a memorable day for their fans.
Sheffield Utd 1-3 Man City
