Chris Wilder reveals when he thinks Chris Basham and Jayden Bogle will return for Sheffield United after injuries

The two defenders are both suffering after-effects of injuries they picked up away at Fulham, when Basham came off after damaging his hamstring and Bogle was injured after being wiped out by Cottagers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Their absence will see United go into the Southampton game without a recognised, senior centre-half – Phil Jagielka joining John Egan on the absentee list after being sent off in victory over Aston Villa in midweek – leaving Wilder contemplating a possible change of shape to utilise Ethan Ampadu and Kean Bryan at centre-half.

And, on Basham and Bogle, Wilder admitted: “Both the players will be missing, so that’s a situation we’ll have to deal with and get through.

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“Hopefully they will be in contention for next weekend at Leicester and definitely the last game before the break in the cup at Chelsea.

“Fingers crossed we can get a couple back. It’s been a difficult period but one that we have to adjust and adapt to.”

United played the last half an hour of Wednesday’s win over Villa with 10 men, after Jagielka was harshly shown a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity following a VAR check. United thought that Bryan may have got across to cover Jagielka had Anwar El Ghazi beaten him, but referee Robert Jones reversed his decision and sent off the veteran defender – ruling him out of tomorrow’s clash.

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