Despite United not needing to win or even shoot, that will not be the mentality that Chris Wilder will instil in the team ahead of this match. Wilder, and the players, will know that allowing Bristol City momentum in the match could be a mistake, so they will look to take the lead and retain control.

In this context Hamer’s shooting, especially from distance, could be key. He unleashed three shots in the first leg, which adds to his impressive record. This means that he has beaten the 2+ line in his last four starts, and makes his seasonal average in the competition 2.68 per 90.

Peck’s shot threat was very much on show in the first leg. His four shots in the match has now pushed his Championship average for the season to 1.29 per 90. However, this massively increases to 2.87 shots per 90 when narrowing down the sample size to Sheffield United’s last 10 matches.

He has now taken at least one shot in United’s last nine Championship matches in a row, 25 in total across those nine matches.

This landed in the first leg as McCrorie was one of only three Bristol City players who managed to take a shot in the whole match. It adds to McCrorie’s recent record in which he averages 2.08 shots per 90 over Bristol City’s last 10 games, making him as frequent a shooter as Nakhi Wells and Anis Mehmeti.

Given the emphasis that Bristol City have to have on scoring goals, McCrorie should be a key player to count on for getting some shots away from the left.

Obviously, Sheffield United do not need to win this match. However, there are many reasons why it is likely that they can go on and do so here. From a historical context, two teams have won the first leg of their play-off ties 3-0, and both went on to win the second leg comfortably as well (Crawley 5-1 MK Dons 2024, Barnsley 3-1 Walsall 2016.)

Taking this tie in particular though, Sheffield United will be at home, which provides its own motivation. Bristol City have to come out and attack at some stage, probably from very early on, which makes them vulnerable to the counter attack. Chris Wilder is likely to want his team to go into the play-off final with some positive momentum as well.

Even at 11v11 in the first leg, Sheffield United looked the most likely to break the deadlock. The easiest way to keep the nerves at bay for United is to extend their aggregate lead, and taking the lead obviously gives them a great chance of going on to win the game.

The basis of this leg comes from historical context. The vast majority of two-legged semi-finals that already have a three or more goal advantage coming into the second leg also see a lot of goals in the second leg. Six of the seven semi-finals that have this context saw over 2.5 goals occur in the second leg.

From a tactical perspective this makes sense, with Bristol City knowing that they have to come out and attack. Even if Sheffield United get the first goal, City have no other choice than to go out for goals, which, again will leave them more open on the counter-attack.

Peck has beaten this line in each of his last four starts, and in seven of his last eight, so it seems like quite a gift that we are being given a sizeable odds against price for this to occur again.

Whilst it makes sense for Peck to initially play a slightly more defensive role given Sheffield United position in the tie, we have already stated how we like United’s chances for a win, and the game state can dictate goals, so, overall, there is no reason to believe that Peck’s shooting instincts will be discouraged.

McCrorie has beaten this line in three of his last seven matches, and was already on one shot in the first leg when the red card came, and Bristol City managed only one shot overall after that.

In a situation in which Bristol City simply have to fire off a lot of shots to try and get the goals they need, McCrorie cutting in from the left and attacking the box is a potential route to goal. Remembering that he scored twice against Preston on the final day of the season when they needed him to, McCrorie is someone that Manning should trust too rise to the occasion.