Sheffield United must restore former strength to mount fresh Premier League promotion push
Sheffield United will be hoping to take advantage of the introduction of two extra play-off spots to boost their promotion hopes this season.
Two of this season’s Championship promotion hopefuls will go head-to-head when Sheffield United and Birmingham City meet at Bramall Lane on Saturday teatime.
Despite experiencing a tough summer off the pitch, with plenty of frustration being expressed over the lack of transfer activity in S2, United will go into the 2026/27 campaign with the ambition of making it third time lucky in their quest to return to the Premier League.
Manager Chris Wilder oversaw a productive pre-season campaign, leading his team to four wins and two draws before starting the campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Mansfield Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup at the One Call Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
However, as Wilder knows only too well, the start of the Championship campaign will require United to go up through the gears, with the division renowned for its ruthless, unforgiving nature.
The Blades finished an underwhelming 13th last season after a disastrous start to the campaign under former boss Rubén Sellés killed their promotion aspirations. United lost each of their first five league games under the Spaniard before going on to lose six of their first nine under Wilder, meaning they recorded 11 losses in their opening 14 league games last term.
Eventually, though, Wilder did turn things around, leading United clear of danger. For a brief period, it looked as though an unlikely play-off push was on the cards, but inconsistency soon derailed those hopes.
Despite lacking consistency towards the end of the campaign, United won 60 points from 41 matches following Wilder’s return on September 15, giving them the ninth-best record in the division over that period. With two extra play-off places up for grabs this season, meaning the team finishing as low as eighth will still have a shot at promotion, that should give United plenty of motivation.
Of course, it is not quite as simple as trying to make up the extra points needed to bridge the gap. United, who announced the departure of Gustavo Hamer on Tuesday night, have not had the easiest of summers, being slow to add to their squad.
On the flip side, several of United’s direct rivals, who will be hoping to take advantage of the expanded play-off system, such as Bristol City, Norwich City and Swansea City, have splashed the cash in an attempt to boost their chances of promotion.
How United’s squad will look come the end of the window, of course, remains to be seen, meaning that is another caveat that must be taken into account at this stage.
But regardless of how the Blades’ squad looks on the morning of September 2, they must improve their home form this season to boost their play-off chances. United won just nine of their 23 league outings at Bramall Lane last term, amassing 31 points, meaning they finished 15th in the home table.
They lost ten games on their own patch, meaning only Norwich (11) and Sheffield Wednesday (15) lost more home games in the Championship than them last season.
In previous Championship campaigns, Bramall Lane has been United’s happy place, with the Blades picking up a minimum of 44 points on home soil in 2024/25, 2022/23, 2021/22 and 2018/19 respectively. If United are going to compete for promotion this season, their form in S2 has to get back to those sorts of levels.
United finished 13 points adrift of the play-offs last term, meaning their underwhelming home form, coupled with their disastrous start to the season, played its part in them falling well short.
Saturday’s opponents, Birmingham, on the flip side, were excellent at home last season, winning 44 points on home soil. However, they finished nine points shy of the play-off places because of their poor away record. Only three teams won fewer points than the Blues (20) on their travels last term.
United had a respectable away record last season, winning 29 points, meaning that if they can maintain a similar standard this term and secure victories at Bramall Lane more consistently, they should be in the play-off conversation.
What was so often the backbone of United’s previous promotion bids needs to become one of their greatest strengths once again.