Can Sheffield United properly break through into the Championship top 2 when they travel to Aston Villa on Friday night?

Sat 3 points behind both Norwich and Leeds in 1st and 2nd place, the Blades have been grinding their way through the gears on their way to automatic promotion contention. They are yet to string together more than 4 league wins in a row, a feat they have managed thrice this season, most recently as 2018 turned into 2019.

A Boxing Day victory over Derby, a year-closing win over Blackburn and a New Year’s Day dance at Wigan – each game seeing Sheffield score 3 goals – was followed by a post-FA Cup exit rebound against QPR.

However, just as they had crept in 2nd place they lost 1-0 at Swansea; combine that with a draw against Championship-leaders Norwich and Chris Wilder’s side swiftly found themselves back in the play-off zone. Saturday saw them get back on the horse with a 2-0 win over a relegation-troubled Bolton.

Though stuck in 9th, Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching the play-offs aren’t quite over just yet. Just 4 points from 6th place Bristol – who have, admittedly played one fewer game than Villa – a bit of luck could see Dean Smith and co. back in promotion contention.

If that’s going to happen, however, they need to be a bit sharper. In their last 6 Championship games they’ve drawn 4, including matches against Preston and QPR where they ended up giving up the lead. Alongside those stalemates came a 3-0 loss at Wigan and a 2-1 win against Ipswich. In the FA Cup, meanwhile, Villa suffered a conclusive 3-0 defeat at home to Swansea.

A nice little side-battle in Friday’s fixture see Tammy Abraham and Billy Sharp jostle to become the league’s out-and-out top scorer. Both are on 19 goals apiece – interesting given their 12 year age gap – though Sharp edges overall thanks to his lone strike in Sheffield’s EFL Cup defeat against Hull.

The lack of consistency from both sides makes it a tough one to call, with Spreadex offering a choice Aston Villa/Sheffield United Goal Supremacy spread of -0.1-01 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.8-3.