Chelsea vs Sheffield United tips and predictions: Leaky Blues may struggle to put Blades away
- George Dempsey
- 14 December 2023
Chelsea will hope to make the most of hosting strugglers Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League this weekend.
Chelsea appeared to be heading in the right direction from September through November, but the form book will tell you they’ve failed to win four of five.
It’s worth noting that all three losses during that run came away from Stamford Bridge, where Mauricio Pochettino’s side are at least unbeaten in seven of 10 this season.
Still, such a record doesn’t meet Chelsea's expectations. The Blues have won four Premier League home matches in 2023 and must seize this opportunity.
Sheffield United’s defence has been as wide open as the Yorkshire Dales on their travels, shipping 20 goals in seven matches.
Chris Wilder looks like the perfect solution to such a problem and despite limited time to work with the players, his stubborn stamp was all over their 1-0 win against Brentford.
The Bees were denied a single Opta-defined big chance and were largely kept out of the Blades penalty box until the latter stages of the game.
The next challenge for Wilder will be successfully applying that approach to an away game, but Chelsea are not the most prolific of opponents, which helps.
Poch’s side is finding the net more frequently but it’s been two years since a Chelsea side averaged two or more goals per game for at least 10 matches.
The trade-off for scoring more goals seems to be conceding more. They’ve conceded in their last nine Premier League matches.
The Blades will take all the charity they can get. They’ve managed over 1.5 goals just once in 37 Premier League away matches.
If they can nick one, however, Chelsea need to score three to cover the handicap. They could, but we can’t back them with any confidence.
Team news
Chelsea’s injury list is growing again with Reece James and Marc Cucurella joining fellow defenders Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah and Malo Gusto on the sidelines.
Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu, Carney Chukwuemeka, Robert Sanchez and Christopher Nkunku are unavailable.
Chris Basham, John Egan, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Tom Davies, Daniel Jebbison and Rhian Brewster are unavailable due to injury while Jack Robinson is suspended.
In better news, Oli McBurnie and Oliver Norwood have served their suspensions.
Key stats
- Chelsea have conceded in 10 of their last 11 matches at Stamford Bridge
- Chelsea won have four Premier League home games in 2023, two by a single goal
- Sheffield United have scored one or fewer goals in 36 of 37 Premier League away games
- Sheffield United have scored 16 goals in their last 11 visits to Stamford Bridge
