Will the Blades silence the Owls when Sheffield United host Sheffield Wednesday at 7.45pm on Sky Sports this Friday?

The South Yorkshire sides are having very different seasons in the Championship. After securing promotion by winning League One in 2016/17 – by a whopping 14 points no less – United are looking to go one step further and return to the Premier League, a place they haven’t been in over a decade.



Currently Chris Wilder’s side are sitting in 7th, just outside the play-off zone but within reach of all but Wolves – who could basically start selling Premier League season tickets right now – above them. In fact, a win on Friday night would – however briefly – lift them into 5th, keeping their hopes of securing back-to-back promotions alive. Helping them to do so is Leon Clarke, who with 15 goals is the Championship’s current top scorer.

The Blades’ll need to recover some of the confidence lost in the last couple of months, mind. After 12 wins and 5 losses in their first 17 games the Blades suddenly had a crisis of faith, one that they’re only just beginning to get over. In their last 9 Championship fixtures United have lost 5, draw 3 and won just once, a 3-0 brushing away of bottom of the table Sunderland. They did, at least, beat Ipswich in Saturday’s FA Cup tie, setting up a 4th round visit from Preston North End.

Though they may have lost the same amount of games – 10 – as their rivals, Sheffield Wednesday find themselves much closer to the drop than the promotion. Sat in 16th on 30 points, a few errant results could easily see the Owls swap places with a team like Burton Albion, who are in 22nd but only 6 points adrift of Wednesday. They’ve also had a similarly miserable close to 2017 as United – Sheffield Wednesday have actually only one once in their last 10 Championship games (and failed to beat League Two’s Carlisle in the FA Cup at the weekend).

Last time the 2 sides met was at Hillsborough back in September, and the result was fairly conclusive, with United hammering the hosts 4-2. There’s nothing to suggest the outcome will be any different this time around, with Spreadex offering a Sheffield United/Sheffield Wednesday Goal Supremacy spread of 0.6-0.8 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.4-2.6.