Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town meet for the 100th time in all competitions this weekend, with both teams looking to climb up the Championship table.
The Blades are winless in three since dropping out of the Premier League, while Huddersfield got off the mark with their first victory in midweek.
Match preview
© Reuters
United were tipped by many to make a swift return to the top flight under promotion expert Slavisa Jokanovic, but they have made a poor start to the 2021-22 campaign.
Jokanovic's men fell to a 1-0 loss at home to Birmingham City in their opening match and followed that up with a stalemate away at Swansea City.
While that draw in South Wales was far from a disastrous result against last term's playoff finalists, the less said about the performance against West Bromwich Albion the better.
Filling in for absent goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who now looks set to join Arsenal, full league debutant Michael Verrips shipped four goals at The Hawthorns.
Jokanovic admitted after the match that he was not happy with his side's display, though they do at least have a chance to respond on Saturday when Huddersfield visit Bramall Lane.
© Reuters
Town have also been on the end of a heavy loss in the opening fortnight of the season, going down 5-1 to Fulham on gameweek two following a 1-1 draw with Reading in their opener.
However, Carlos Corberan's men responded well to that defeat by claiming a 1-0 win at Preston North End in midweek through a Sepp van den Berg own goal on home soil.
Consistency is not exactly something Huddersfield specialise in under Corberan, though, with their last successive league wins coming back in December.
A point would therefore be considered a good result for Huddersfield this weekend as they look to inflict a third straight Yorkshire derby defeat on their opponents.
- L
- D
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
- D
- L
- W
- W
- D
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Jokanovic confirmed after the West Brom defeat that Ramsdale had been left out of the squad amid ongoing links with Arsenal, so Verrips will almost certain start Saturday's match.
Ben Davies has been made to wait for his debut since joining from Liverpool but, on the back of the heavy midweek loss, it is surely time to bring him into the fold.
Rhian Brewster and Oliver Burke dropped down to the bench last time out and are in contention to return here, as is fellow attacker Oli McBurnie.
As for the visitors, Lee Nicholls marked his debut in goal with a clean sheet against Preston after recovering from coronavirus.
Lewis O'Brien, another who missed the first two games after testing positive for COVID-19, also impressed in the week and Scott High justified his selection in central midfield.
Corberan will be reluctant to change things too much on the back of a win, but Duane Holmes and Alex Vallejo can offer some fresh legs against Sheffield United.
Sheffield United possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Baldock, Egan, Basham, Robinson; Norwood, Fleck, Berge; Brewster, McGoldrick, Burke
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Lees, Sarr, Colwill; Turton, Vallejo, Hogg, Holmes, Thomas; Ward, Koroma
We say: Sheffield United 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield will feel a lot better about themselves after picking up a first league win of the season last time out, whereas United enter this game completely deflated.
The Blades have no time to mope, though, and we can see Jokanovic's charges grinding out a narrow win here - possibly through a late goal - to begin their ascent up the table.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sheffield United win with a probability of 39.09%. A win for Huddersfield Town had a probability of 31.93% and a draw had a probability of 29%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield United win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.84%) and 2-0 (7.59%). The likeliest Huddersfield Town win was 0-1 (11.35%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.34%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood.
