The fellow Premier League manager helping Chris Wilder's Sheffield United side stay focused

Chris Wilder’s squad enters this weekend’s game against former champions Manchester City without a win so far this term, having lost five and drawn one of their first six games.

Although Wilder acknowledged the situation is far from perfect, particularly with a trip to big-spending Chelsea following hot on the heels of Saturday’s meeting with Pep Guardiola’s team, he told his players to study recent history at Turf Moor - where Dyche’s men regularly take a while to discover their best form.

“Sean explained the situation perfectly,” Wilder said. “His team have been in this situation before so he knows what it’s all about.

“What Sean has always maintained is that you stay calm, you stick with what you know you can do and what works for your players, and you continue to work hard. What you don’t do is worry, panic or get distracted by a load of noise from elsewhere.”

Like United., Burnley are also searching for their first victory of the 2020/21 fixture programme after losing to Tottenham on Monday. Speaking after that match, Dyche told journalists he was still considering “the bigger picture” at Burnley - a sentiment Wilder echoed after being impressed by the quality of United’s performance against Liverpool four days ago.

“There’s a long, long way to go,” Wilder said, after leading United to a ninth placed finish last season. “Okay, it’s not the start that we wanted or were looking for. Mind you, there’s been plenty of teams who have made slow starts before, for all sorts of different reasons, and come through.”

“Also, you look at it and think where we are in terms of our development and experience as a Premier League club, and think ‘Is this actually the realistic situation we should be in?’

“We didn’t get ahead of ourselves and start thinking we’ve cracked it. But we know what the bots are capable of too.”