Sheffield United: How Morgan Gibbs-White and Iliman Ndiaye deal with pressure of leading promotion charge

That's the view of Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom, who admits he takes pleasure in seeing the pair terrorise defences.

With no recognised senior striker available – and a question mark over Billy Sharp’s fitness ahead of the play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest – they have been tasked leading United’s forward line, which has seen them start the last four matches together.

"I think they thrive on it,” Heckingbottom told The Star.

"Morgan’s shown in particular this season he wants to be playing in the big games. Iliman, I’m delighted everyone’s talking about him now and seeing what he can do.”

The red-hot partnership of Gibbs-White and Ndiaye, both aged 22, saw them claim a goal and assist apiece in the 4-0 romp over Fulham on Saturday.

England under-21 international Gibbs-White, who is on a season-long loan from Wolves, was also named Sheffield United’s player of the year.

He has scored 11 goals and claimed nine assists this season, while Ndiaye has scored in each of his last three matches, taking his total to seven – with a further two assists – in a breakthrough campaign.

“I enjoy watching them play,” Heckingbottom added.

“The biggest attribute is not what people think about or write about. It's their work rate, their organisation, discipline without the ball, the willingness to do the role for the team.

“We know they are good players, so we just try and emphasise all the time the better job they do without the ball, the quicker we can get it to them.”