Sheffield United have 10 FA Premier League games remaining of the 2020/21 season and are set to make football history tonight when they face Aston Villa tomorrow in a game played behind closed doors.
In 25 years, when your sat doing the latest ‘pub quiz,’ and the quiz master asks which Premier League match was the first ever to be played behind closed doors?, you can confidently answer Aston Villa and Sheffield United!
Sheffield United have not been involved in a professional match since they beat Norwich City on 7th March 2020. Since then, due to COVID-19, football has been suspended, and at one point, discussions were suggesting that the league wouldn’t resume.
This has been the case for the English Football League bottom two leagues, League One and League Two, with positions, decided on a ‘points per game’ basis which has disgruntled some clubs.
The Premier League temporarily suspended with the Blades seventh in the table, with their game in hand at Aston Villa tomorrow, a victory would see United jump into fifth, and with a shot at earning a place in either UEFA Europa League or UEFA Championships League next season if they finish in the top four.
A fifth-place finish could be enough for a UEFA Champions League place with Manchester City, currently, suspended from playing in this competition for the next two seasons, although they are in the process of appealing this punishment.
United’s ‘long shot’ chances have been widely written about since it was announced that the season would resume. It comes as a breath of fresh air for the supporters of Sheffield United after neutrals had tipped the Blades as relegation fodder in pre-season., giving them little chance of surviving. Now, at least the Blades will compete in the top flight for at least another season.
TalkSport’s Simon Jordan, who was formerly chairman of Crystal Palace FC, has raised a question mark over the importance of qualifying for a European position in their first season after both Burnley and Ipswich Town have qualified during a debut season since the Premier League was launched in 1992, and failed to hold their place in the top flight over the next two years thereafter.
He told TalkSport; “When you’re involved with a football team you want to win the games that are in front of you because that’s what you do. The flip side to that argument is you take it when you can get it, of course, but is it the right part of Sheffield United’s blueprint to find themselves in Europe at this stage in their evolution?
“Because every time we hear clubs with this sort of resource finding themselves in Europe whether it’s the Europa League and Burnley being a specific case in point, it always seems to impede their start (to the following season). It goes back even as far back as 2001 when Ipswich was going great guns in the European competitions and got relegated the following season.”
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Despite being a huge Blades supporter, it is something that I agree with, although my ethos is to strive to do the best you can, I would have been happy with a 17th placed finished after 38 games. They have more than exceeded expectations under Chris Wilder.
A place in Europe for next season would be fantastic, and I would be one of the first fans frantically trying to save up the money to witness their first-ever game in Europe away from home but, sometimes, you have to be realistic and look at the bigger picture.
The squad they have now have done fantastic and it’s crazy to think that 8 of the current regular starting 11 were part of the side that took part in last season’s final match of the season in a 2-2 draw at Stoke!
Squads always need refreshing in some way at every open transfer window, but if they were to make it into Europe’s elite cup competitions, then they will have to invest more into the squad.
Remaining Blades Fixtures;
17 Jun – Aston Villa (1) 18:00
21 Jun – Newcastle United (a) 14:00
24 Jun – Manchester United (a) 18:00
28 Jun – Arsenal (h) FA Cup QF 13:00
30 Jun – Tottenham Hotspur (h) 20:15
04 Jul – Burnley (a) 15:00
08 Jul – Wolverhampton Wanderers (h) 20:00
11 Jul – Chelsea (h) 15:00
15 Jul – Leicester City (a) 20:00
18 Jul – Everton (h) 15:00
26 Jul – Southampton (a) 15:00