'We must win this one' Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder admits, ahead of crunch clash with West Bromwich Albion

United enter tomorrow evening’s match at the bottom of the table, one place and four points behind the visitors, with 17 matches remaining.

Revealing his players understand they can not afford to lose to Sam Allardyce’s side, and that a draw “wouldn’t be a great result for us either,” Wilder rejected claims he is taking a risk by putting so much emphasis on one contest rather than considering the bigger picture.

“Yes, we have to (win), of course we have to,” Wilder said, when asked if a defeat would signal the end of United’s battle for survival. “For our own benefit, psychologically, we’ve got to have a performance and a positive result. If we don’t win games of football, then we won’t be in this division next year.

“We understand that. I understand that. The boys understand that. We’ve always had the belief we can do it.”

“The table doesn’t lie at the end of the day. It’s come down to big moments for us, but I believe we can take them and we have started to take them. I look at us, and I believe we can win games of football.”

United owe their perilous predicament to a woeful start to the campaign, as what Wilder has described as an “unprecedented” number of injuries saw United lose 15 of their first 17 outings. With several influential figures still unavailable for selection, eyebrows have been raised at the club’s decision not to bolster the options at the 53-year-old’s disposal before the transfer deadline; particularly given his squad’s recent upturn in form, which delivered victories over both Newcastle and Manchester United towards the end of last month. Speaking after Saturday’s visit to leaders Manchester City, which the hosts narrowly won, Wilder’s counterpart Pep Guardiola expressed his disbelief at United’s position in the rankings.

With the gap between themselves and safety growing to 13 points following Brighton and Hove Albion’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur on yesterday, United’s failure to strengthen is likely to be a source of disappointment behind the scenes.

Refusing to comment on the lack of activity at Bramall Lane, other than to stress no players would be leaving, Wilder said: “I’m not jumping through hoops whenever we get beat, by whoever that is, even when it’s by arguably the best team in the country (City) over the past three seasons who are bang in form right now. But I do believe we can win games of football. Will it be enough? I don’t know that but I do believe we can win games.”

“It doesn’t gain us points but for me, when someone like Pep - a proper, respected achiever - says things like that, which he didn’t have to by the way, that backs up my opinion that we’re still alive,” Wilder added. “We’ve got to back up those displays now and not waste them.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, of course we’ve got to get a win to give ourselves a fighting chance of closing the gap. I sense the players are actually looking forward to it.”

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