Sheffield United set for positive Cameron Archer injury boost ahead of Chelsea clash amid motivation point

Sheffield United have received a big injury boost ahead of this weekend’s home clash with Chelsea with striker Cameron Archer set to return. The former Aston Villa man has missed almost two months of action after suffering a calf issue in training.

The striker’s last game was the win away at Luton, in which he scored in the Blades’ 3-1 victory, and his return to action will be welcome for boss Chris Wilder after Thursday’s battling defeat at Liverpool.

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“Cam Archer will be involved at the weekend so it's good news on that front.,” said Wilder. “He's been out for quite a while so he's a good one to have back amongst the group. We can’t afford these players to be out. You can have one or two injuries but big actors and players you’ve signed to do a job ... Cam’s been a major signing for Sheffield United and to have him unavailable for six weeks or so is a big blow.

“So it’s great to have someone who can get us up the pitch and get us a goal. Hopefully when he comes onto the pitch he'll give us an impact and a positive one. Getting Cameron back is good news and a positive one from our point of view but we don't want to get one and lose one.”

The “losing one” was a reference to Gus Hamer, who went off at Anfield on Thursday soon after his header led to Conor Bradley’s own goal led to United’s equaliser in their eventual 3-1 defeat. “He’s getting checked over today,” said Wilder earlier today. “Hopefully he’ll be okay.”

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Defeat at Anfield left the Blades 10 points adrift of safety - effectively 11 with their -52 goal difference - with eight games of the season remaining, starting with Sunday’s clash with Mauricio Pochettino’s side - who also played last night and sealed a dramatic 4-3 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, with Cole Palmer scoring a hat-trick.

Asked how he was managing to keep spirits and morale up amongst his players, Wilder admitted: “That’s our job. You can take something from the [Liverpool] game. The narrative and attitude before was if we were just there to make the numbers up. You can understand in a way as top v bottom and our season as it's developed, I get it and I'm not being critical.

“We have enough motivation inside our group. You can use certain things from time to time and we have done in the past but there's enough motivation. We're not in it to just turn up and roll over, we believed we could get a result. There were a lot of good things from our point of view.”