Majority of the teams in the Championship have played 5 games at this stage, the Blades are sat at the top of the league on 10pts. Being 1st place at this stage is meaningless, but you can look at other factors which can give you negative or positive indications.
Form
As mentioned above, United are 1st in the table with 3 wins, 1 draw and a loss. All 3 wins this season have come at home, a place that United under Paul Heckingbottom have made a fortress. In 2022, the Blades have won 39pts out of a possible 51.
However away from home they need to improve their form with United winning just once out of their last 9 away league games. They had a chance to change that against Middlesbrough over a week ago, but they let a lead slip twice before earning a point. United face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Friday night, can they improve on that current away form and get the first away win of the season.
Goalscoring & Conceding
United are currently the top scorers in the division with 9 goals scored from their opening 5 games. As far as xG goes, they are also top in that chart, and the goals scored are matching the quality of chances that they are creating at 9.2 xG. This is a positive indication because it shows that the finishing ability is matching the creativity.
On the flip side, United have conceded 4 goals in 5 games, ranking them the joint 5th best defensive record in the league at this stage. The xGA, like the xG number, is also matching the actual goals conceded at 4.5, just a 0.5 difference. In terms of xGA, the Blades are 6th best in the league.
Comparison To Watford
Watford are the team sat in 2nd spot, just 1pt behind the Blades. The Hornets have scored 4 goals in 5 games, with an xG of 6, so the forwards are underperforming in terms of finishing their chances.
Defensively though it is the opposite. They have conceded just twice so far this season, but the xGA is 5.8. The goalkeeper, Bachmann, is overperforming, and he is the 4th most worked goalkeeper in the league making 4 saves per game.
Compare this to Foderingham who has the joint least amount of work to do in the league, making only 1.4 saves per game.
Individual Stats
According to the SofaScore model, United have 2 of the best performing players in the top 10. Anel Ahmedhodzic is currently the 5th best performer in the league with an average rating of 7.53. Whilst Oli Norwood is the 7th best performer in the league with an average rating of 7.52.
The top scorer for United is currently Iliman Ndiaye with 3 goals, which puts him joint 2nd in the golden boot race. The top assists goes to Oli Norwood with 2 assists, he has the joint 2nd most in the league.
John Fleck has created 3 big chances, and only managed to get 1 assist from them. Norwood averages the highest number of key passes per game amongst the United players, with 2.4 key passes per game.
Sander Berge averages the most number of successful dribbles in the United team, with 2 per game. However it’s Iliman Ndiaye who has the best dribble success ratio with 83%.
Max Lowe statistically is the best defender at the club, averaging 3.8 successful tackles per game, ranking him 3rd in the league. He also averages 2.8 interceptions per game, ranking him 3rd in that chart too.