Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Forty: Sheffield United v Barnsley

Team News

With only long term absentees Iain Hume and Michael Coulson missing, The Reds have an almost fully fit squad to choose from for this white hot, rearranged South Yorkshire derby with Sheffield United. On loan Adam Hammill has recovered from injury but after a fine performance from the midfield on Saturday, he may be used from the bench. Daniel Bogdanovic is pushing to replace his Malta team-mate Michael Mifsud up front. Rob Kozluk is set to return to Bramall Lane for the first time since moving from there to Oakwell in the summer of 2007. He missed last season's meeting.

Likely Line-Up:

Heinz Muller

Rob Kozluk

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Bobby Hassell

Andranik Teymourian

Anderson De Silva

Hugo Colace

Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Jon Macken

Michael Mifsud/Daniel Bogdanovic

Head to Head

It used to be Sheffield United who The Reds loved facing and Wednesday who we all used to want to avoid, but that seems to have changed in the last couple of years. Whilst The Reds have lost just one of the last four meetings with the Owls and this season did the first double over them for 73 years, The Blades have triumphed in each of the three meetings since Barnsley returned to the Championship. Before this Barnsley were unbeaten in 10 meetings! The Blades also hold the Indian sign over The Reds this season. Barnsley have done doubles over their other two South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster and Wednesday but lost at home to the Blades back in November, which I'm sure everybody remembers… Two goals from James Beattie won it for the Blades with Kayode Odejayi- with his only goal this season- replying at the death. As well as the Hume/Morgan incident, Reds boss Simon Davey was sent to the stands.

Last season The Blades did the double over The Reds for the first time in exactly 20 years. They have never done the double over The Reds two years in a row.

Barnsley 1-2 Sheffield United Match Report 8/11/08

Barnsley 0-1 Sheffield United Match Report 22/3/08

Last Six Sheffield United v Barnsley Results:

8/11/08 Barnsley 1-2 Sheffield United (Championship)

22/3/08 Barnsley 0-1 Sheffield United (Championship)

9/3/02 Barnsley 1-1 Sheffield United (Championship)

14/12/01 Sheffield United 1-1 Barnsley (Championship)

7/4/01 Sheffield United 1-2 Barnsley (Championship)

9/12/00 Barnsley 0-0 Sheffield United (Championship)

Overall Record:

Sheffield United Wins: 24

Barnsley Wins: 14

Draws: 19

Sheffield United Goals: 92

Barnsley Goals: 62

At Bramall Lane:

Sheffield United Wins: 14

Barnsley Wins: 6

Draws: 5

Sheffield United Goals: 50

Barnsley Goals: 27

This Season

Sheffield United are currently the form team in the division having won five and drawn two of their last seven games- a run which has lifted them to fourth in the Championship, six points behind second place Birmingham but with a game in hand (tonight's match) Kevin Blackwell has had his critics but he is turning the Blades into an efficient side who are hard to beat. They are unbeaten in the league since losing 2-1 to Sheffield rivals Wednesday in February- a run of eight matches, and they have lost just three of their last 20 matches, interestingly though two of those were to Yorkshire rivals Doncaster and Wednesday and both at Bramall Lane. They have won their last three matches and a win tonight would equal their best run of the season of four successive victories.

Barnsley will be disappointed they didn't finish Nottingham Forest off at the weekend as the 1-1 draw leaves them just three points above Forest who occupy the final relegation spot, although they still have two games in hand on Forest, one of which is tonight. The Reds are unbeaten in their last three matches, winning one and drawing two, but they haven't won away since that success at Hillsborough.

Last Six Results:

Sheffield United:

4/4/09 Sheffield United 2-0 Ipswich (Championship)

22/3/09 Cardiff 0-3 Sheffield United (Championship)

14/3/09 Sheffield United 4-2 Derby (Championship)

10/3/09 Sheffield United 2-2 Blackpool (Championship)

7/3/09 QPR 0-0 Sheffield United (Championship)

4/3/09 Coventry 1-2 Sheffield United (Championship)

W: 4 D: 2 L: 0 F: 13 A: 5 GD: +8 Points: 14

Barnsley:

4/4/09 Barnsley 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Championship)

21/3/09 Derby 0-0 Barnsley (Championship)

17/3/09 Barnsley 3-1 Crystal Palace (Championship)

14/3/09 Barnsley 0-1 Blackpool (Championship)

10/3/09 Barnsley 1-1 Birmingham (Championship)

3/3/09 Cardiff 3-1 Barnsley (Championship)

W:1 D:3 L:2 F:6 A:7 GD: -1 Points: 6

Sheffield United lie 4th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 69 points from 40 games.

Barnsley lie 20^th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 45 points from 40 games.

Sheffield United could go as high as 3rd with victory whilst Barnsley could go as high as 18^th.

Mad Sites:

www.sheffieldunited-mad.co.uk

www.barnsley-mad.co.uk

Official Sites:

www.sufc.co.uk

www.barnsleyfc.co.uk

Other Fixtures:

Crystal Palace v Coventry, 20:00

Watford v Southampton, 19:45

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Cardiff v Derby, 19:45