Match Preview: Sheffield United vs Spurs in the FA Cup: my prediction, team news, possible lineup and much more…

Match Preview: Sheffield United vs Spurs in the FA Cup: my prediction, team news, possible lineup and much more…

According to Wikipedia, Harry-Graham Potter is a fantasy figure "written by British author J. K. Rowling." She "chronicles the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends." Don't you believe a word of it… created, yes… but very much real (oops… an oxymoron here; created/ real… never mind… we mustn't let it get in the way of a good story)… The new regime at Yankee-Doodle-Dandy-Chelski whizzed him away from Brighton and the seagulls and positioned him as a magician at their club in the hope that he would magically put trophies at their feet and that the Premier League would – once again – bow to their foreign (from Russian to Yankee) charms…  Not if the rest of the league have anything to do with it! Bastards!

…As we learnt from our game against them… and their previous games since Roman Abramovich's successor took over, they are stumbling all over the place, looking for Abramovich's Russian golden balls success… but instead, they've become headless chickens. Many other clubs (low and high), and we have seen them off… now we move our focus to Sheffield United and the FA Cup.

Sheffield United v Spurs…

I have no doubt that Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United will try to test their mettle against us when we visit Bramall Lane in the fifth round of the FA Cup this Wednesday.

This is our first meeting in the FA Cup since the 1957-58 campaign when the United secured a 3-0 win over us in the fourth round. Never mind, a couple of years later, we won the FA Cup (twice in a row) and the league title… achieving the double… this was in the 1960/61 season.

Match preview

Sheffield United…

After suffering back-to-back defeats to fellow promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough and Millwall, Sheffield United returned to winning ways in their 1-0 victory at home against Watford on Saturday.

Sheffield United are one of seven teams outside of the Premier League who are still competing in this season's FA Cup. They are in a healthy position in the race to secure automatic promotion back to the Premier league.

They beat Millwall 2-0 in the FA Cup third round and non-league Wrexham in the fourth round 3-1 after a 3-3 draw.

Spurs…

Following our 4-1 Premier League defeat at Leicester City and a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League, we have responded well with back-to-back 2-0 home victories over London rivals the Spammers and Harry-Graham Potters' Chelski team.

Emerson Royal and Son were both on target against the Spammers, while our homegrown Oliver Skipp scored his first Spurs goal in the win over the Potters' failures before Harry Kane increased his goal tally to 268.

Cristian Stellini has extended his faultless record in charge of the first team to four matches, and he will be hoping for more of the same as we now prepare for three successive away games in three different competitions.

We have already beaten lower-league opposition twice in this season's FA Cup, with a slender 1-0 success over Portsmouth in the third round and a comfortable 3-0 victory at Preston North End in the fourth round.

We have won our last two meetings against Sheffield United, both in the 2020-21 Premier League campaign, including a 3-1 victory at Bramall Lane, and another win over United would see us record three in a row for the first time since the mid-1970s.

Sheffield United FA Cup form:

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Sheffield United form (all competitions):

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Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup form:

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Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

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Team News

Sheffield United…

Due to injury, the Blades will be without Billy Sharp, Rhian Brewster, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Enda Stevens, and Jack O'Connell. At the same time, George Baldock could be in a position to return to the matchday squad after taking part in training.

Spurs…

As for us; Hugo Lloris, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ryan Sessegnon, and Yves Bissouma all remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

I have no doubt that rotation is to be expected considering our busy fixture schedule, with Pedro Porro, Davinson Sanchez, Japhet Tanganga and Ivan Perisic all pushing to start in defence after watching on from the substitutes' bench in our last match.

Pape Matar Sarr could force his way into centre-midfield at the expense of either Skipp or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, while Son and Arnaut Danjuma are in contention to replace Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison, with Kane expected to continue as striker.

My possible Spurs lineup:

Forster; Tanganga, Sanchez, Lenglet; Porro, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Danjuma, Son; Kane

My prediction…

Just win, for Chrissake… whether we score one goal or a dozen, it won't make the blind pit of difference… just one extra over their goal (if any) will get us through.

But we've got to play the game of guessing the score… so here goes… 1-2 to us (of course). A draw will see them and us back at our Tottenham stadium to enact the game all over again… and we don't want that, do we? Oh, no… fixture pile up and all that jazz… Granted, Sheffield United have turned Bramall Lane into a fortress this season, having lost only three of their last 20 home games in all competitions, so we could be in for a bumpy evening on Wednesday. Of course, we will be firm favourites by everybody except the Blades supporters… but that doesn't usually count for anything in Cup competitions. Over the years, there have been so many Giant killings. But saying that… we have quality in our squad to get the job done, as we did in the previous two rounds against lower-league teams.

A bit about Bramall Lane…

It is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of, yes, you've guessed it… Sheffield United.

The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family. It was the largest stadium in Sheffield in the 19th century and hosted the city's matches, including the final of the world's first football tournament.

The first floodlit match and several matches between the Sheffield and London Football Associations led to the unification of their rules. It was also used by Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield FC. It has been the home of Sheffield United since the club's establishment in 1889.

It is the oldest major stadium.

Bramall Lane is one of only two grounds (the other being the Oval) which has hosted England football internationals, an England Test cricket match (in 1902, against Australia) and an FA Cup Final (the 1912 replay, in which Barnsley beat West Bromwich Albion 1–0). It also regularly hosted FA Cup semi-finals and replays between 1889 and 1938. In 2022, it hosted UEFA Women's Euro 2022 matches.

After all that, then back to the League, followed by the UEFA Champions league… it is all go for top-tier league teams… clubs like the Spammers, Southampton, Leeds etc., and other lowly teams don't have such pressure… other than trying to fight relegation… But fodder is needed to make everything sweet and joyful for the paying spectators.

Enjoy!

COYS!

Glenn