Sheff Utd vs Brighton Prediction: Blades can secure major home win

Sheffield United host Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon (14:00) hoping to build on their impressive win over Luton Town last time out. The Blades, despite only having won three games this season, are still only seven points from safety and after their first away win, there is a glimmer of sunlight in the Sheffield sky. 

If they want to survive, they will have to back up that win with another positive result as they return to Bramall Lane to face Brighton. The Seagulls are into the last 16 of the Europa League and the fifth round of the FA Cup so they have plenty of fish to fry as we approach the back-end of the season. 

Below we’ve put forward a couple of betting selections for you to think about, and previewed the match. 

Team News

Ben Brereton Diaz’s hamstring injury ruled him out of the win over Luton but the club are hopeful he will only be sidelined for a short amount of time. Having said that, he is unlikely to start this weekend’s game, while Oli McBurnie is also racing to be fit in time. Cameron Archer is likely to lead the line again as the only fully-fit striker in the squad, while Rhys Norrington-Davies is out after picking up another injury at Kenilworth Road. Gustavo Hamer was withdrawn with a dead leg, but should recover to feature here. 

Brighton will be without Joao Pedro again after he missed the 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur with an injury, while James Milner is also out. Jack Hinshelwood is now out for three months following surgery, with Danny Welbeck expected to start up front for the Seagulls. 

Match Odds

Sheffield United are priced at 4/1 to win this match on home soil, while Brighton are the favourites at 8/13. A draw can be backed at 16/5, over 2.5 goals is 8/15 and BTTS is 4/7.

Sheffield United to win @ 4/1

I think Sheffield United are a huge price to win this game. It sounds mad given they’ve only won three times this season, but they have looked like an improved team at points under Chris Wilder. Against Luton they were organised and impressive on the counter-attack, and that win will have given them a huge boost heading into Sunday. 

The Blades were awful against Aston Villa but competitive in recent matches against Crystal Palace and West Ham. Wilder knows he has to focus on picking up points in these crucial home matches, and I think Brighton are beatable at this moment in time. The Seagulls did win 5-2 in the FA Cup match here, but I believe Wilder will be more conservative this time around. 

With limited attacking options, he played a 5-4-1 at Luton with McAtee supporting Archer, and I believe that could be the blueprint for success again. Brighton lost with the last kick of the game at Spurs, and have only won one of their last five Premier League matches. That came against a tepid Crystal Palace side, and they were also hammered 4-0 at Luton during this run. Sheffield United can pull off a major win here, and the price of 4/1 is worth taking advantage of, in my opinion. 

James McAtee to score anytime @ 11/4

I’m not expecting this game to have loads of goals given the home side are likely to set up in a defensive manner. However, as we saw at Luton, the attacking duo of Archer and McAtee can cause problems. Archer missed one glorious chance before scoring the opener, while McAtee is a constant threat for the opposition to deal with. 

The Manchester City loanee has scored two goals in his last three Premier League appearances, and now looks to have won Wilder’s trust. Importantly for this pick, he took the penalty at Luton, scored, and is likely to step up again should the Blades win a spot-kick. A threat from anywhere, the 11/4 price on McAtee to score is another one I fancy. 

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