Blades sharpen double sword
Sheffield looking to upset the odds again by getting a second league win against Arsenal
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Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder giving instructions to Oliver McBurnie during the 1-0 win over West Ham in their last Premier League match last Friday. The forward scored the winner that put the Blades on 32 points, above the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham, in sixth position.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON • Sheffield United are shaking up the order in the English Premier League, with the Blades challenging for a spot in Europe in their first top-flight campaign for 13 years.
Chris Wilder's men travel to Arsenal today four points and four rungs ahead of the 10th-placed Gunners. And having beaten them 1-0 earlier in the season at Bramall Lane, they are confident of doing the double.
"It's an outstanding news story so far and I'd love it to be a brilliant news story at the end of the season," said the Blades manager.
"For us to find ourselves in sixth position at this stage of the season is quite remarkable. But... it's all about where we finish at the end of the season."
The remarkable job he has done in lifting his boyhood club from third-tier League One to challenging the established order in just 21/2 years was rewarded with a contract extension till 2024 last week.
"The club have given me the task of continuing the work that we've started," he added. "The challenge is to make sure we have Premier League football on a regular basis."
Unlike most promoted sides, Sheffield have higher aims than just securing safety. Since Ipswich finished fifth in 2001, the best a promoted side has finished is seventh.
Yet with 32 points already on the board, Wilder's men are off to the best 22-game start to a league season for a promoted team since Birmingham recorded 33 points in 2010.
They are also two points ahead of eighth-placed Tottenham, last season's Champions League finalists.
The "Big Six" - including Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea - are among the top-11 richest clubs in football, according to Deloitte's Football Money League.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sheffield's squad are filled with journeymen, who like Wilder, have battled their way through the English football pyramid to earn their chance on the biggest stage.
The contrast with his opposite number today could not be more stark. Mikel Arteta was handed the chance to take charge of one of England's biggest clubs despite having no previous touchline experience.
However, Wilder is among those already impressed with the Spaniard's impact since taking over late last month.
He said: "Arsenal have made a fantastic appointment...
"I'm sure they will finish the season strong and will be a force once the manager's had a full pre-season and another window to go at because they are a historic and powerful top-four football club in this country."
The respect is mutual and Arteta knows it will be tough to defeat the Blades without top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who begins a three-match ban after being sent off at Crystal Palace last Saturday.
"I've been very impressed (by Sheffield). I've seen a lot of games and everything is prepared," said Arteta. "They are really difficult to break down.
"The solidarity in their team is incredible, how hard they work for each other and they have very clear principles - in attack and in defence, restarts of play, set-pieces - with what they want to do.
"So it will be a very difficult test. I already warned the players today."
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