Sheffield United's Chris Wilder prepares to make the biggest decision of his career

David McGoldrick is fit again. John Lundstram prepared for the match on the back of two commanding performances. But neither, together with the likes of Lys Mousset, Panos Retsos or his fellow new signing Richairo Zivkovic, is guaranteed to begin the meeting with Graham Potter’s side.

“One of the things I’ve said to the players,” Wilder insisted, “Is that my only job now should be to pick the team.

“That should be the hardest job and it is the hardest job. They are the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make during my time as a football manager. It’s a great situation to be in but I’m delighted that I am.”

Wilder, who has lived through crises at Halifax Town and Northampton, was speaking ahead of a fixture which could see his team climb into the Champions League places only 10 months after securing membership of the Premier League.

It has already been a remarkable season for a club which was languishing in the third tier of English football four years ago. But Wilder, who has twice led it to promotion since being appointed in 2016, is determined to do everything within his power to ensure it ends on an even more breathtaking note.

His selections during the remaining 12 fixtures of the campaign, starting with tomorrow’s visit of Albion, will have a huge bearing on whether or not United spend the summer preparing to rub shoulders with some of the continent’s most glamorous names.

Given they have won their last three outings in all competitions, it should be a relatively routine task.

But, according to Wilder, the performances some of those on the periphery of his first choice eleven have been producing in training have left both him and his assistant Alan Knill nursing headaches following United’s return from Dubai, where they spent the first half of the winter break.

Lundstram in particular presents a major dilemma. The midfielder, one of United’s most influential players before the recent transfer window, has found himself on the bench following Sander Berge’s arrival from Genk. The most expensive acquisition in United’s history, the Norway international is regarded as one of Europe’s most exciting young talents. But Lundstram’s response to losing his place to the £22m signing has been, by Wilder’s own admission, nothing short of superb. After replacing Berge during the second-half of United’s win over AFC Bournemouth, Lundstram capped a tour-de-force display by scoring the winning goal.

Retsos and Zivkovic, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen and Changchun Yatai respectively, watched the drama unfold from the stands with the latter not even making the matchday squad.

“Everyone wants to be in there,” Wilder said. “Every single one of the boys is pushing hard and that’s brilliant to see.

“But of they want to get in, then they’re going to have to get past some really good players because the results at the moment are there to see. We’ve got to make sure, if we want to keep driving it forward, that stays the situation right the way through.”