Sheffield United derby advantage made even greater as Sheffield Wednesday look to upset odds
Broadcasting changes have handed Sheffield United an even greater derby day advantage heading into their visit to Sheffield Wednesday in March.
The automatic promotion-chasing Blades will make the trip to S6 on Sunday March 16 for an early kick-off hoping to record a double over play-off hopefuls Wednesday after Tyrese Campbell’s finish provided the only goal in a touch-tight first game at Bramall Lane in November.
A quirk of the fixture schedule saw the Hillsborough derby scheduled for the end of a week that will see Wednesday tackle two of the most gruelling and fatiguing away fixtures of the Championship season - Plymouth Argyle the previous Saturday and Norwich City on the Wednesday evening. United play Preston North End and Bristol City at home.
And that Bristol City game has been altered on the whim of television broadcasters, meaning Chris Wilder’s high-flying Blades will welcome the Robins to S2 on the Tuesday night - handing them the advantage of an extra day’s rest heading into the Steel City clash. In a football age where preparation time is key, they’ll have twice as much as Wednesday when accounting for travel time.
It comes as the opposite to the Bramall Lane clash, when Wednesday enjoyed back-to-back home fixtures while United had trips to Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City - though there were no extra days rest.
The fixture shift surely pins Wednesday as further underdogs against a United side who will arrive to S6 with the benefit of a big-spending January transfer window behind them and well-curated hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League.
Speaking more generally about the task facing Wednesday between now and the end of the season, Owls boss Danny Röhl said this week: “It shows where we are with our budget and our performance. It shows where we are and this is a big credit to my team. I feel like this is a big step up to face the top half of the table, when you look at the budgets maybe these are the big dogs. But we have our tools, we have our togetherness.
“This is what I mean about our mentality. We are not scared, we are also very strong as we can bring our strength in. This is what we like to do, maybe we are a little bit of an underdog at the moment. It is just two points but it is not so bad. With this mindset, our belief and mentality it can be a successful combination.”