Manchester United set to face Sheffield United at Old Trafford

Preview

Unbeaten in six Premier League (PL) matches (W3, D3), Manchester United now sit five points behind the coveted fourth place spot. Recent games have been tight, with just one of the ‘Red Devils’ last eight PL matches featuring over 2.5 goals, and two of their last 11 witnessing both teams score.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have conceded only 0.8 goals per PL home match, and have kept a clean sheet in six of their last seven competitive fixtures here. In PL home fixtures, an early lead is key – 87.5% of their home victories have arrived after a half-time lead.

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Sheffield United were trounced 3-0 at the weekend, and with that, they’ve scored just a single goal from their last three league matches. In fact their average of 1.0 goals scored per match is the division’s sixth lowest ahead of this round.

Six of the ‘Blades’ eight PL away draws featured goals, and across those six they conceded the first goal in five. Notably, their equaliser arrived after the 80th minute in three of those six. Indeed, the bias for late goals is clear – 76.92% of Sheffield’s 13 scored PL away goals this season arrived during the second half.

Players to watch: January signing Bruno Fernandes (MUN) has scored three goals in his last four PL matches – two from the penalty spot. Meanwhile, veteran striker Billy Sharp (SHU) has three goals across his last six competitive matches.

Stat attack: Manchester United have won 53.85% of their PL home matches entered as favourites this season.

Visitors to Old Trafford have accrued as many or more yellow cards than Manchester United in eight straight PL fixtures.

Just seven of Sheffield United’s 30 PL matches (23.33%) featured over 2.5 goals.

Sheffield United have scored over 1.5 goals in just one of their previous 13 PL games.