EFL make official decision for Sheffield United v Sunderland ahead of Bramall Lane clash

Experienced Championship official Gavin Ward will take charge of Sheffield United’s home clash with Sunderland at Bramall Lane on Friday night. The Championship rivals are set to meet under the lights in South Yorkshire with just two points between the clubs after 17 games.

The Blades beat Oxford United in midweek while Sunderland were held to a 0-0 draw at home to West Brom. Leeds United occupy top spot, but are only ahead of Chris Wilder's men on goal difference. Burnley and Sunderland are two points behind the top two and sit third and fourth respectively. Victory for either side at Bramall Lane will send them top of the table ahead of the weekend while a draw will be enough to put the Blades top before Leeds or Burnley play.

Ward has taken charge of 11 Championship games this season, but has yet to be the man in the middle for Sheffield United or Sunderland. He has refereed 189 Championship games across his career, and also taken charge of 20 League One games, four in League Two and twice overseen matches in the League Cup. He has averaged over four yellow cards and over 22 fouls per game this season. Goals from Callum O’Hare, Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi helped the Blades secure a fifth victory in six games in their 3-0 win over Oxford in midweek and they will hope to continue that momentum against a Sunderland side who have drawn their last five games.

Speaking after their win in midweek, Wilder reflected: “The game’s got to be won. We have to show a top mentality. We made it a comfortable evening by being clinical when we had to be and showing that mentality. It’s a tough league, they had a tough afternoon on Saturday and coming up the road and a few of the injuries that they’ve got, but it’s important that we showed that top mentality, which we did. They were never out the game, they’re dangerous opponents. They’ve got players that can hurt you and find a goal and if they do find that goal then it becomes a difficult evening, but we controlled it.

“Even late on where ‘Coops’ (Michael Cooper) has made a save and ‘Robbo’ (Jack Robinson) has got across his man and made a tremendous block. The attitude to keep clean sheets and the attitude to defend properly was important and we showed that tonight. Some games look after themselves, our previous home game looked after itself. There will be games in the second part of the season that look after themselves.

“We’re coming off a Saturday to a Tuesday to a Friday night yet again and you know I look at everybody else’s fixtures and maybe there’s only another one or two that have the short turnaround that we’re having to deal with. It’s not ideal for Sunderland, not ideal for us, but we will get on with it.”