Sheffield United: Sunderland's James Fowler hails Chris Wilder's tactics & urges side to make fans proud

The two sides have seen their fortunes dramatically reversed in recent years, with the Black Cats plummeting from the Premier League down to the third tier, while the Blades have rocketed their way back to the big time under Chris Wilder's charismatic leadership.

Speaking ahead of the Bramall Lane clash, via the Sunderland Echo, Fowler said his side were embracing the task ahead of them, and claimed: "It’s a new stadium (to visit), and a new challenge in pitting your wits against a formation that’s proved very successful for Sheffield United.

"There’s lots of things within that you look forward to. Hopefully we can put on a performance that fans are going to be proud of and hopefully we can get one or two more players pushing for a start on Saturday.”

Sunderland fell at the last hurdle in their battle to secure promotion back to the Championship last season, after Lee Bowyer's Charlton Athletic defeated them in the Play-Off Final with a dramatic late goal. This season, they're currently sitting in fifth place in the table, after accumulating 16 points from nine games.

Fowler went on to reference the side's win over Burnley in the last round of the competition, and said: "You go in and put a performance like that and it just reminds them that they are good players.

"When you play a team a couple of leagues above, there’s probably less tension and you can sometimes show how good you can be without that fear of failure, because it’s important we don’t let that happen within the group, that they can go and express themselves and hopefully win games.”

Wilder is expected to make a number of changes for this evening's game, but has stressed the importance of his players focusing fully on the match, and avoiding the temptation of fixating on this weekend's Premier League match against Liverpool.