Paul Heckingbottom’s Sheffield United ultimatum as Blades look for Premier League survival boost

Paul Heckingbottom has warned his beleaguered Sheffield United side that they must pick up points from their upcoming “cup finals” to breathe fresh life into their faltering season. Heckingbottom felt fresh pressure on his shoulders after Saturday’s 5-0 hammering at Arsenal, the Blades’ ninth defeat in their 10 league games so far.

Heckingbottom’s men endured an unenviable run of early-season fixtures, facing six of the current top nine in those opening 10 fixtures. The opportunity to begin the campaign with some positive momentum was missed, with United’s squad below-strength for early-season fixtures against Crystal Palace and Everton, and they are now five points adrift of fourth-bottom Bournemouth at the foot of the top-flight table.

United’s struggles are being played out in front of a worldwide audience, as the only club in English football’s top six divisions not to register a win this season. They have already beaten their own record for the worst start to a Premier League campaign after 10 games, with one point and a minus-22 goal difference, with midfielder Ollie Norwood admitting the Blades’ players must “look at themselves in the mirror” in a bid to escape their miserable slump.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, with upcoming games against Wolves, the Cherries and second-bottom Burnley on the horizon offering United a real chance to kickstart their season and begin to claw back the gap to those teams above them. More flat performances and unfavourable results will see their survival odds grow longer by the week.

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“Points need to be got,” Heckingbottom admitted. “We are competing in the bottom part of the league and we have played a lot of teams in the top 10, but we are coming into a little spell now of playing teams in and around us. They are our cup finals. They are games that we need to win.

“A trip to the Emirates will not define our season. We’ve not prepared for that. But the games coming up, against the teams in the bottom half of the season, will. The fans know they’ve got a group of staff and players who are giving everything and will continue to do that.

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“Big opportunities in these games coming up and who we have available or not available is irrelevant. We have to try and get the points. These are the games we’ve been waiting for. As frustrated as I am with some bits of the game, especially in the second half, next week becomes more important now. “

United will definitely be without Oli McBurnie against Wolves, the striker damaging his groin in defeat to Manchester United earlier this month. While refusing to give an exact timescale, Heckingbottom expects to be without McBurnie for weeks - the latest in a long line of injury blows so far this season.

“We wanted to build [on the Manchester United performance] and we lost one of our most important players in Oli,” Heckingbottom added. “We think we’re going somewhere and we start again on a Monday morning. Hopefully everyone came through this okay and we know what we’ve got, what we’re working with, for this game against Wolves.”