Sheffield United head to the second city tonight to face Birmingham City in the Blades second consecutive match to be shown live on Sky, as United search for their third consecutive victory.
The Blades were 2-0 victors at Peterborough United last Saturday. Second-half goals from Billy Sharp and an own goal from Callum Morton secured a victory in what was a controlled performance for the visitors. Sharp’s goal set a personal milestone and Football League record after scoring the most goals in the Championship since it was reformatted in 2004.
The result lifted the Blades into eleventh in the table and prior to this evening’s fixture, six points behind the Play-Offs. Under Paul Heckingbottom, United have suffered one defeat in their last eight league outings.
Sheffield United was active on transfer deadline day with the acquisition of Brentford defender Charlie Goode on loan for the remainder of the season. The 26-year-old could make his debut at Birmingham tonight. In other last-minute business, striker Lys Mousset joined Italian club Salernitana on loan for the remainder of the season, whilst fellow striker Daniel Jebbison has been recalled from his loan spell at Burton Albion. In other transfer business, midfielder Adlene Guedioura left the club by mutual consent, and a late deal saw Luke Freeman join Millwall on loan.
The two teams met earlier in the campaign, on the opening day of the season – also shown live on Sky. The Blades were defeated in Slavisa Jokanovic’s first professional match in charge, with the Blues sailing away with a 0-1 victory after Maxime Collin headed home on 19 minutes. He also had a second goal disallowed in the second half, ruled out for offside.
Sheffield United have failed to beat Birmingham City in their last six meetings in all competitions. Their last victory came at Bramall Lane on 1st March 2009 where the Blades were 2-1 victor’s en-route to the Play-Off Final., where a David Cotterill penalty on 83 minutes was enough to ensure victory, cancelling out Chris Morgan’s own goal after 74 minutes after Danny Webber had gifted United the lead on 44 minutes. Since then the Blades have recorded three draws and three defeats. United’s last victory at St Andrew’s came on Boxing Day 1999 when goals from Paul Devlin and Martin Smith recorded a 2-0 victory.
Following a busy January transfer window, Lee Bowyer added former Sheffield United and Charlton Athletic striker, Lyle Taylor to his squad, securing a loan deal for the forward. They also completed the signing of Rangers midfielder Juninho Bacuna for an undisclosed fee. The pair made their debut in City’s last match, with the striker netting on his debut after just 7 minutes against a Derby side who are very much in a relegation dogfight. A victory looked set to be on the cards for the Blues at Pride Park after another former Blade, Scott Hogan, guided the visitors into a two-goal lead on 56 minutes.
However, for the second consecutive fixture, Birmingham would record a 2-2 draw after closing minute’s goals from Luke Plange, and Krystian Bielik on 87 and 90 minutes to deny City maximum points. Days previous, Birmingham had inflicted the same fate on Peterborough.
The draw leaves Birmingham unbeaten in their last three matches, leaving the Blues 17th in the Championship table but currently have a 13 point advantage over the bottom three. However, their form does not live up to expectations with just one victory from their last ten matches in all competitions. This came against Barnsley on 22nd January at St Andrew’s.
The Blues are excepted to host Sheffield United tonight without strikers Adan George (ACL), and Troy Deeney (hip), through injury.
Last Six Meetings
28.01.2012 – Sheffield United 0-4 Birmingham City (FA Cup Round 4)
25.11.2017 – Sheffield United 1-1 Birmingham City (Championship)
21.04.2018 – Birmingham City 2-1 Sheffield United (Championship)
19.09.2018 – Sheffield United 0-0 Birmingham City (Championship)
10.04.2019 – Birmingham City 1-1 Sheffield United (Championship)
07.08.2021 – Sheffield United 0-1 Birmingham City (Championship)