Sheffield United: Fleetwood are pumped-up for Blades visit

Three of Uwe Rosler’s four victories since taking charge of United’s League One rivals have come at Highbury and the visitors were last night warned the German will be desperate to claim another prized scalp.

“They have beaten some decent teams this year, they are competitive and another test for us,” Wilder said. “We want to keep our run going. We went to the league leaders last week, produced a decent performance and got a really good result in light of what happened at the back end of the game.”

Wilder was referring to Chris Basham’s sending-off against Scunthorpe seven days ago which rules the midfielder out of this game. Fleetwood, five points behind sixth-placed United in the table, have beaten Oxford, Southend, Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers’ under-23’s in the Checkatrade Trophy since Rosler’s appointment three months ago. But, while United enter today’s contest having won five of their previous six outings, the hosts are without a win in four.

Reflecting on Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Bristol Rovers, Wilder said: “We want to keep it going, we are hungry for another three points. We were patient, we moved the all around the pitch, but didn’t create as many chances as we wanted to. We stuck at it though and the boys looked confident in possession.”

“They are still learning about me and what we want as a coaching staff,” he added. “We needed to get that second goal. The slight criticism is we didn’t go and get it.”

Rosler, who is unable to select on-loan United defender Kieran Wallace, reinforced Wilder’s message by insisting Fleetwood will enter the contest with “no fear.”

“Sheffield United are still a big name with a big history,” he said. “But we relish the challenge and are looking forward to it.”