In this article…
Man United v Sheffield United
📅
Kick Off: Wednesday 24th April at 20:00
🏆
Competition: Premier League
📺
Watch Live: Not Televised
Below is a full betting preview ahead of this week’s action as relegation-battling Sheffield United take on FA Cup finalists Manchester United, accompanied by betting tips, predictions, team news, and best bets as well as a Cheat Sheet – available on all Premier League tips.
We have also tracked all the best free bets for UK customers and the best bet builder bookmakers, to ensure our readers are getting the best value from our Premier League accumulator tips and the rest of the football betting tips.
Well. It’s difficult to know where to start with Manchester United at the moment. Erik ten Hag’s reign is so confusing and manic that it would take someone of the intellect of Sigmund Freud to try and work out what is actually happening.
Ostensibly, you could say that ten Hag has been successful. He’s won a trophy, qualified for the Champions League, and reached a second consecutive FA Cup final. Yet his Manchester United team feel no closer to being a Premier League title or Champions League contending outfit.
As for Sheffield United, the second coming of Chris Wilder has not changed their fortunes. The Blades are on the brink of relegation straight back to the Championship, but until the mathematics say that the fight is over we can be sure that Wilder’s team will keep scrapping until the end.
Man United v Sheffield United Best Bets
➡️ Both teams to score and Over 2.5 goals @ 1.73 on Paddy Power
➡️ Bruno Fernandes to Score or Assist @ 1.67 on Paddy Power
📂 Man United v Sheffield United Cheat Sheet
There are so many ways to use our Cheat Sheets to look for player fouls won stats or any other markets, and we encourage you to find your own formula to pick a winning bet builder, however, if you’re unsure of how to use a Cheat Sheet, just click the link for some quick tips to help you make the most of it.
You can find Man United v Sheffield United match stats, on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off. If you’re looking for a new bookmaker check out the best bet builder bookmakers.
⚔️ Man United v Sheffield United Head-to-Head
The reverse fixture this season was back in October. Paul Heckingbottom was still in charge at Bramall Lane, and, in keeping with much of Manchester United’s season, the Red Devils were probably fortunate to escape with a 2-1 win.
Scott McTominay started alongside Sofyan Amrabat in midfield, and got the opener. Oli McBurnie equalised from the penalty spot before suffering another injury. Diogo Dalot, one of Man Utd’s most consistent bright sparks this season, found the top corner from 25 yards out to get the win.
There was a fairly open feel to the game, but Sheff Utd won the xG battle 1.42 – 1.1, albeit 0.8 of Sheff Utd’s total was the penalty, so Man Utd did edge the open play chances.
There were 26 shots, 14 to Man Utd, with 11 on target, six of them for Sheff Utd. It was the Blades who also edged the corner count, 5-4.
The game was refereed by Michael Oliver, who called 22 fouls, fairly evenly split between the teams, and gave out four cautions. Sheffield United saw three yellow cards, and only Jonny Evans was carded for Manchester United.
Two individual performances worth noting from this match were from Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire. Fernandes created five chances in a man of the match performance, which he could repeat here if Sheff Utd allow him the space, but, also, Harry Maguire, who was still generally out-of-favour at this stage, attempted 96 passes, completing 79. This was by far the highest on the pitch and worth a look if entertaining any passing bets.
📊 Man United Form and Stats
Manchester United actually haven’t won a match in normal time for six games, since defeating Everton 2-0 at Old Trafford on 3rd March.
In that time Erik ten Hag’s side have progressed to the FA Cup final via wins in extra time and on penalties, and drawn three and lost one in the Premier League. In all matches, bar Bournemouth away, Man Utd have led until late on. Whether this is a tactical, mental, or physical problem, or whether it is just an unfortunate small sample size, is unclear, but the trend is there to be seen.
It is well known that Manchester United have a problem in conceding shots. Their expected goals against (xGA) is one of the worst in the Premier League, in fact it is practically relegation material. Some models differ with their totals, but all have Man Utd down as a bottom five team for xGA, and therefore their concession of 48 goals this season is a massive overperformance.
It is simply a question of whether Sheffield United actually have the attacking capabilities to be able to breach that defence on a regular basis.
Looking solely at Premier League results, Man Utd’s home form is very patchy. They have won five of their last ten at home, but performances have been inconsistent. They are running at a 0.0 xG differential over the last ten home matches, which means that overall across that period they are creating around the same quality of chances as they are conceding to their visitors. The match against Liverpool does have a big bearing on this metric, however, as that match alone was -3.1 xG.
📊 Sheffield United Form and Stats
The results and points gathered so far tell us that Sheffield United are the worst team in the Premier League this season. The performance data generally backs up that opinion too.
The Blades are bottom for goals scored, goals conceded, xG created, shots, shots on target, and clean sheets, but they should be thankful to Luton for keeping them off the bottom of the xG against charts.
The main difference for Chris Wilder has made to Sheffield United since taking over from Paul Heckingbottom is that he’s made Sheffield United’s attacking game much stronger.
He seems to have settled on a strike partnership of Oli McBurnie and Ben Brereton Diaz and the two are causing defences very different problems than most forwards in the Premier League.
In fact, as well as looking at Sheffield United attacking output with these two physical forwards, it is actually worth also looking up the fouls that they create and cause as a result of their industrial style.
The Blades have picked up only one win and six points on their travels in the Premier League this season. They are nine matches without a win, and their only wins this season have come against Wolves (H), Brentford (H), and Luton (A).
They are currently running at a -1.0 xG differential over their last ten Premier League away matches, and they have lost every away xG battle in that period bar their narrow 3-2 loss to Crystal Palace, which was calculated as even.
However, Sheff Utd have scored in five of their last six, including at Liverpool and twice against Chelsea.
💰 Man United v Sheffield United Best Bets
There is nothing in the Sheffield United form or season-long data to suggest that they should get anything out of this match. Yet it is also difficult to see Man Utd sailing to a comfortable victory.
The chaos of Man Utd matches allows a belief that there should be goals in this, so a bet of BTTS & Over 2.5 goals at 1.73 on Paddy Power is shrewd.
Given the likelihood of Man Utd goals in this one, and the way that he played against the Blades in the reverse fixture, it is also a good bet that Bruno Fernandes will be involved on the goal sheet in some way.
Fernandes is actually running at 0.57 xG+xA in the Premier League this season, though his actual goals plus assists per 90 total is 0.45 per 90, so he is value for more. With the price of Man Utd, and, more specifically, their goal expectation here, Fernandes to score or assist at 1.67 on Paddy Power looks backable.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
18+ please gamble responsibly.
