The Blades welcome Manchester United to Bramall Lane on the return to Premier League action following the international break and it represents a great opportunity for Sheffield United to pull off a surprise and get their first win on the board, with a partisan atmosphere expected under the lights at S2.
However, Paul Heckingbottom has had a lot of thinking to do to get around the issues that have dogged his campaign, namely the loss of key players through injury. Chris Basham became the latest to be ruled out long term after his horror injury at Fulham, coming just a week after John Egan was added to the list.
With that in mind, there is a possibility that the three-at-the-back formation which has been pivotal to United’s success in recent years could be banished, purely because of the lack of numbers.
Here, we’ve taken a punt on that happening and picked our Blades team to face Erik ten Hag’s men on Saturday night.
9. Cameron Archer
Gone missing a bit in the past few games but perhaps it's time to try and have him run off McBurnie from slightly deeper in the centre of an attacking three. It's likely he will also see a little more of the ball in there too Photo: Matthew Lewis
10. Gustavo Hamer
Another who has been a bit quiet in recent matches, compred to earlier games but has the ability to provide a little bit of magic when it's needed. Probably interchangable with McAtee on either side of the three Photo: Michael Regan
11. Oli McBurnie
First name on the teamsheet and probably United's most important player at the minute at both ends of the pitch. He's shown incredible leadership qualities of late. Would like to see him a bit higher up the pitch and not have to drop deep quite so much Photo: George Wood