{"id":63188,"date":"2025-03-07T11:18:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T11:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/?p=63188"},"modified":"2025-05-23T13:09:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T13:09:30","slug":"wilder-predicts-competitive-clash-for-blades-against-strong-preston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/wilder-predicts-competitive-clash-for-blades-against-strong-preston\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilder predicts competitive clash for Blades against &#8216;strong&#8217; Preston side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chris Wilder is anticipating a \u201cdifficult\u201d game as Sheffield United prepare to host Preston North End on Saturday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Blades will be hopeful of winning a vital three points as they look to continue their automatic promotion push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preston, led by ex- United boss Paul Heckingbottom, have been inconsistent so far this season and are currently sat 15th in the table.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking ahead of the game on Friday morning, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder anticipated a competitive game. He said: \u201cThe start of the season was a great one for us and not so good for them. They are a strong Championship football club who have been in this league for a long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;ll understand the qualities we have but they are stubborn and have experienced championship players who will make it difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"858\" height=\"656\" src=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-10.57.13.png\" alt=\"Sheffield United's football stadium from above.\" class=\"wp-image-63196\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-10.57.13.png 858w, https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-10.57.13-480x367.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 858px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sheffield United&#8217;s Bramall Lane. credit: WikiMedia commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the injury front, there are continued absences for Femi Seriki, Tom Cannon, Alfie Gilchrist and Harry Clark.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welsh international Rhys Norrington Davies suffered another injury blow midweek whilst playing for the u21s side.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt isn\u2019t looking too good.\u201d Wilder added. &#8220;He&#8217;s had a scan, we&#8217;ve taken him to a specialist so he won&#8217;t be available definitely for the next three games. It\u2019s really unfortunate for him as he&#8217;s a top pro, a top trainer.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blades head into this weekend on the back of a 2-1 victory away at Queens Park Rangers last weekend, sitting 2 points ahead of 3rd place Burnley.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilder added: \u201cIt&#8217;s tough to win games, it&#8217;s tough to be at the top of the table, and tomorrow we will have to deal with a tough opponent. They will want to come and get a result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Next up, we welcome PNE to BDTBL \u2694 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mxCq5iCEu0\">pic.twitter.com\/mxCq5iCEu0<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SheffieldUnited\/status\/1897603068935446824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 6, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Saturday\u2019s match will see a return to Bramall Lane for Paul Heckingbottom, the man who took Sheffield United to the Premier League in 2023.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chris Wilder was full of praise for his ex-colleague: \u201cPaul took the reins here at a difficult time. From a stats point of view, he did amazing to get the team into the playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s a quality operator who has a great knowledge of the game. I&#8217;m delighted he&#8217;s doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Wilder is anticipating a \u201cdifficult\u201d game as Sheffield United prepare to host Preston North End on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":682,"featured_media":63193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,26],"tags":[289,33,38,294,131,530],"class_list":["post-63188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sport","tag-chris-wilder","tag-football","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffield-united","tag-south-yorkshire","tag-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wilder predicts competitive clash for Blades against &#039;strong&#039; 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