Sheffield United fans receive instructions from Chris Wilder

United enter Saturday’s match against Brighton and Hove Albion sixth in the Premier League table - two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea - with only 12 games of the season remaining.

Wilder used his latest pre-match media briefing to warn Bramall Lane’s first team squad that Graham Potter’s side present a “dangerous” challenge despite being without a win since December.

It is a message he also insisted should resonate on the terraces, as United prepare to step-out in front of a sell-out home crowd.

“We have to be careful that supporters aren’t looking at the table and thinking ‘this is going to be easy’ though,” Wilder said. “It will be as tough as it gets.”

United have beaten Crystal Palace and AFC Bournemouth since losing to reigning champions Manchester City last month, as well as knocking Millwall out of the FA Cup.

With Frank Lampard’s side and fellow European contenders Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton all still to visit South Yorkshire, Wilder admitted the meeting with Albion isn’t the most glamorous fixture United will stage before the end of their first top-flight campaign since 2007.

But he said: “This should be just as big as anything. The noise and the backing and the encouragement, if it is deserved by a group of players it is this group of players.”