Blackpool have had to battle hard for their points recently. Three goals scored in their last eight fixtures points towards where their struggles lie, but Michael Appleton hasn’t been dealt the greatest hand in terms of injuries, especially in midfield.

This may tempt The Seasiders to play a more direct game towards Gary Madine, but Sheffield United are very well equipped to deal with such a tactic. Indeed, the Blades appear to be well equipped to deal with most things that are thrown at them at the moment.

John Egan is going to be missing for this fixture, which is a slight blow, but Anel Ahmedhodzic and Ciaran Clark are very good at this level and likely replacement Chris Basham can call on years of experience and is unlikely to let his side down. Only 9 away goals conceded over their 12 away matches tells its own story about the ability of Paul Heckingbotom’s side to keep things under wraps defensively on the road.

In terms of then being able to go on and win the game the Blades have a variety of solutions. Iliman Ndiaye is probably the sharpest of their forward players at the moment, and still riding high on his World Cup experience. Billy Sharp has lost little of his potency plus there is a huge set piece threat with the big central defenders matched with Oli Norwood’s superb delivery.

For Blackpool the struggle is not necessarily profligate finishing but the ability to create enough chances. Before the Hull match on Boxing Day, Blackpool had gone on a sequence of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 xG and not one “big chance” (defined as above 0.3xG) was created in those four consecutive matches. Against Hull there were signs of improvement with two big chances created and an xG total of 1.2, but both were missed in this case.

The Blades have kept clean sheets in 6 out of 12 of their away matches this season. Against an attack as out of form as the Blackpool one this would make it a decent bet that a seventh clean sheet could be incoming.

The reverse fixture to this was a spectacular match with no shortage of incident. Blackpool came back from 0-2 to be leading 3-2 when they had two players sent off. It took until the 98th minute for United to force an equaliser and even then two more players were sent off at the final whistle.

It will be interesting to see if there are any afters from that spicy encounter here. Either way it is likely to be very competitive and cards could be on the agenda.

Though we are unlikely to hit the heights over 10 cards, the over 3.5 cards line should be a good line to aim for.

Referee Geoff Eltringham has averaged four cautions per match in his seven assignments this season. Even more encouragingly, Eltringham has refereed two Championship fixtures since the restart and dished out 7 and then 5 bookings on the Boxing Day fixture. So between the potentially fiery nature of the fixture and the recent ‘form’ of the man in the middle, adding the over 3.5 cards line to the bet looks like a good option.

Sticking to cards for the final leg of this bet builder there is a particularly interesting price around for the Blackpool right-back Callum Connolly to receive a yellow card, especially when he ranks third for fouls on the Cheat Sheet. Connolly is a constant for Blackpool on the right-hand side playing 21.4 90s out of a possible 22, so firstly he is likely to have the full amount of time to get into the book, which is important in markets such as these.

Also, Connolly’s personal data over the last 10 matches shows that he is the player that has committed the most fouls out of any of the Blackpool players, 16 across those games. He has received two cautions in that time as well but could be value for one or two more given his foul rate. He is a bigger price than the likes of Charlie Patino and Kenny Dougall despite having committed more fouls than either.

The final piece of evidence for this addition to the bet is that Sheffield United tend to focus their build up in the wide areas. Connolly will be up against either the pace of Max Lowe or the power of Enda Stevens, with the possibility of Iliman Ndiaye drifting out to the left and Ciaran Clark overlapping and attacking that space too. There will be multiple threats around Connolly and he will be involved in the game.