MX23RW : Wednesday, December 18 17:22:18| >> :600:392269:392269:

John Fleck insists "hard work" key to Sheffield United's rise

The Blades sit ninth in the Premier League table after their 1-0 win over Arsenal on Monday.

John Fleck insists Sheffield United's meteoric rise under Chris Wilder is down to one simple thing – hard work.

Since becoming manager of his boyhood club in the summer of 2016, Wilder has taken the Blades from League One to the Premier League.

United are ninth in the table following Monday night's 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Bramall Lane.

Fleck has been along for the ride from the beginning after being signed by Wilder shortly after his appointment and the Scottish midfielder insists there is no secret formula to their recent success.

"It's just hard work, honestly," said Fleck. "Just trying our best every day in training and that was his message from the start. You must try your best and see where it takes you and it has taken us this far.

"Since the manager came in the club has been on the up and we still seem to be going that way.

"We all understood how difficult this league was going to be and how hard it is to pick up points, but we've done well so far. However, we know there are more tough games to come as well so we must keep working hard because we can always improve."

Heading into the Arsenal match, the feeling at Bramall Lane was that performances had not brought the number of points they deserved, having lost consecutive home games against Leicester, Southampton and Liverpool.

So Fleck was pleased to see everything come together on Monday night, he said: "The problem with the last few games at home is we have played well and got nothing from the games so it was important that we got a big victory and we have done that.

"It's fantastic and great for the fans that we got the result. For us, it's just the same as every other week and we work as hard as we can and then try to get our rewards in the match.

"We will enjoy the moment but we've now got a difficult game against West Ham at the weekend, so it doesn't get any easier."

ID:375883: cacheID:375883:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2914:
Written by
P A
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Lys Mousset celebrates scoring for Sheffield United against Arsenal on October 21, 2019
Read Next:
Sheffield United prolong Arsenal's Sheffield hoodoo
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd21145230111945
2Leeds UnitedLeeds21126337152242
3Burnley2111822681841
4Sunderland21117332171540
5Blackburn RoversBlackburn2011452517837
6Middlesbrough21104735251034
7Watford2010462926334
8West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom2171132416832
9Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds218582630-429
10Swansea CitySwansea217682322127
11Bristol City216962626027
12Norwich CityNorwich216873632426
13Millwall206772018225
14Derby CountyDerby216692626024
15Coventry CityCoventry216692730-324
16Preston North EndPreston2141162127-623
17Stoke CityStoke215792328-522
18Queens Park RangersQPR2141072127-622
19Luton TownLuton2164112337-1422
20Oxford UnitedOxford Utd2046102133-1218
21Cardiff CityCardiff2046101932-1318
22Portsmouth193882134-1317
23Plymouth ArgylePlymouth2045111942-2317
24Hull City2137111930-1116


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!