Manchester City end the year with a visit from relegation-threatened Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola’s freshly crowned Club World Cup champions returned to domestic action with a victory over Everton on Wednesday night but failed to keep a clean sheet for an eighth consecutive Premier League outing, falling behind to Jack Harrison’s opener before roaring back to win 3-1.
Sheffield United have conceded more goals than any other club in the division, and Wes Foderingham’s plight between the posts has darkened now that his own teammates have begun to take aim. Jack Robinson and Anis Ben Slimane turned the ball into their own net in the Boxing Day defeat to Luton Town.
Here’s everything you need to know about a meeting between the Premier League‘s reigning champions and the club propping up the rest of the division this season.
Man City vs Sheffield United H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
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Country |
TV channel/live stream |
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United Kingdom |
N/A |
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United States |
Peacock |
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Canada |
fuboTV |
Former world boxing champion Terry Flanagan leapt onto the Bramall Lane pitch as Erling Haaland scored the opener against Sheffield United in August. As a City fanatic, Flanagan was celebrating with Haaland but the Norwegian striker won’t be jumping up and down with anyone during Saturday’s return fixture. Pep Guardiola is hopeful that the team’s top scorer can return from a foot injury in January.
Jeremy Doku is also expected back in the new year but Kevin De Bruyne is once again training with the team. The long-term absentee is unlikely to start this weekend but could be part of his first Premier League squad since August.
Ruben Dias sat out the trip to Goodison Park with a virus and John Stones was forced off in the first half with an ankle issue which Guardiola worryingly revealed “doesn’t look good”.
Man City predicted lineup vs Sheffield United (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Rodri; Bernardo, Foden, Grealish; Alvarez.
Chris Wilder will be without the suspended duo of Gustavo Hamer and Anel Ahmedhodzic after both players collected their fifth yellow cards of the Premier League season. Jayden Bogle is available again after serving his ban but City loanee James McAtee cannot face his parent club.
Long-term absentees Tom Davies (thigh) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) are unlikely to feature until late January at the earliest. Both centre-backs John Egan and Chris Basham, fixtures of Wilder’s Sheffield United team which finished ninth during the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, are also unavailable.
Sheffield United predicted lineup vs Man City (4-4-2): Foderingham; Baldock, Robinson, Trusty, Lowe; Bogle, Brooks, Souza, Slimane; Archer, McBurnie.
Peter Reid was in the Goodison Park crowd as City completed a spirited comeback against Everton on Wednesday night and sat in the dugout for the club’s last top-flight defeat against Sheffield United. Without the fetching trilby that he sported on Merseyside, Reid watched City fall to a 4-2 loss at Bramall Lane in 1992, before the formation of the Premier League.
City needed a thumping 88th-minute winner from Rodri to snatch all three points when the sides met in August and Wilder’s side have afforded few opponents a straightforward contest. However, lining up in front of their own fans for the first time as world champions, City should have enough to overcome the side sitting 20th in the top flight.
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Sheffield United
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