The State of Play
Sheffield United are on course for a historically bad campaign in the Premier League, having conceded 66 goals in their 26 matches thus far and their relegation to the second-tier is more a question of when, rather than if. The Blades suffered a 1-0 defeat at Molineux last weekend against Wolverhampton Wanderers with Pablo Sarabia scoring a 30th minute winner in that match.
Arsenal have work to do in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie against Porto but the Gunners have been magnificent in the Premier League so far this year with six victories out of six. Mikel Arteta’s men have managed those six wins in a row by scoring 25 goals in the process and they come into this one on the back of a 4-1 hammering of Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
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Team News
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has confirmed that both George Baldock and Ben Brereton Diaz have returned to training this week so they will both be back available for this one.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have welcomed Thomas Partey back to training this week and he ‘should’ be back in contention for this one. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko remain doubtful.
Expected Line-ups
Sheffield Utd: Grbic; Ahmedhodzic, Trusty, Robinson; Baldock, Vinicius Souza, Norwood, Hamer, Larouci; McAtee; Osula
Arsenal: David Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli
What they Said
Chris Wilder heaped praise on Arsenal in his pre-match press conference. “The players they’ve got, how they’ve built and kept evolving to put them in a position where they are is not a fluke. They’re massively in the title race but, for us, we are trying to dress it up as a cup match.”
Mikel Arteta has recently discussed the major improvement of Jakub Kiwior and suggested he had ‘made it difficult’ for the Poland international after he initially joined the club.
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at 20:00 at Bramall Lane on Monday March 4th and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. It can also be streamed live via the Sky Go app.
Prediction
Sheffield United’s last three matches at Bramall Lane have seen them concede 15 goals, losing 5-2 to Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup as well as back-to-back 5-0 losses in the Premier League against Aston Villa and Brighton, once again. Arsenal will head north in some of the best form they have ever shown in the Premier League era and another heavy victory in favour of the Gunners is to be expected on Monday evening.
