Before the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season, Sheffield United were the bookmakers’ favourites to be relegated to the Championship.
The Blades Finished in 2nd place in the Championship last season to earn promotion to the Premier League and many pundits predicted they were going to make a quick return to the second tier of English football.
However, we are now 12 games into the Premier League season and Sheffield United find themselves in a 5th place. A quick look at the current odds for relegation in the Premier League this season, show 9 clubs with lower odds than Sheffield United which highlights how quickly they have adapted to the Premier League.
One glance at the league table shows exactly why Sheffield United have been performing above expectations this season. The Blades have conceded only 9 goals in their 12 Premier League matches and there is only one team in the division which has a better defensive record than Sheffield United. Only twice in 12 games have Sheffield United conceded more than a single goal and they have kept 5 clean sheets.
Following the excellent 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur prior to the international break, Sheffield United were unbeaten in 5 Premier League matches. Chris Wilder’s team scored only 6 goals during those 5 games, 3 of which came in one match at home against Burnley but the key to their success is not scoring a lot of goals but keeping them out at the other end of the pitch.
Sheffield United have conceded only 2 goals in their last 5 Premier League matches and that includes games at home against Arsenal and away against Tottenham Hotspur. Both these teams have great attacking players at their disposal such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but Sheffield United conceded just a single goal which was away against Spurs.
Sheffield United were not close to being the top goal scorers in their promotion winning season but conceded only 41 goals in 42 matches in the Championship last season. While being strong defensively is always the basis for a good team you cannot win games without scoring goals and Chris Wilder has a unique way of playing attacking football.
Overlapping central defenders have proved very capable in the Premier League and this style of play has caught the attention of football fans across the country. There is a long way to go in the Premier League this season but if Sheffield United were to maintain their position in the table it would be one of the biggest shocks in Premier League history.
If Wilder was a European manager, guiding a similar team to the same success in La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga or Ligue 1, some of the top Premier League teams will surely be monitoring the situation. It will be interesting to see if any clubs make a move for the manager and if Sheffield United can maintain their fantastic start to the season.