Sheffield United preview: Three points and maybe a bit more

Once again Arsenal play after our two title rivals, with wins for both Liverpool and Man City this weekend, there’s just a little extra pressure going into tonight’s game with Sheffield United.

It is only a little bit, as it’s already abundantly clear we are in a serious fight for this season’s Premier League. This is genuinely heavyweight stuff, so regardless of what the others do, there’s no other acceptable outcome this evening than three points. As such, it’d be surprise to see much in the way of rotation this evening.

When we played Sheffield United at home this season, Mikel Arteta played Jakub Kiwior at centre-half ahead of Gabriel, and gave a first start of the campaign to Emile Smith Rowe in midfield. Kiwior might well start tonight, but at left back where he might be the only fit option, but it’d be a surprise to see Smith Rowe again. The stakes are too high, the game is away from home, and we’re at a point in the season where risk taking – even with a bit of strategy built in – becomes a bit less doable.

So, I think it’ll basically be the side that beat Newcastle, but possibly without Jorginho in midfield. That would mean an extra attacking player against the team that prop up the table and have conceded the most goals this season, so if it’s Leandro Trossard, that would make sense.

Mikel Arteta will warn his players against complacency this evening. There’s no doubt Sheffield United are a poor side, almost certainly doomed to relegation at this point, but at home the very least we can expect from them is some fight, and that’s always a consideration when you face a team in their position and scrapping as hard as they can to avoid/delay the inevitable. The manager says:

They’re a really difficult team to beat. I’ve watched four or five games now with the City game, the way they started against Villa, and then obviously the game took a different route, but as you mentioned they are extremely well coached. I know Chris…

Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/03/sheffield-united-preview-three-points-and-maybe-a-bit-more/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-03-04 07:34:48

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.