Sheffield United are the team who have the task of getting over a play-off final defeat this year, and in a twist of fate they face their play-off semi-final opponents from last season, Bristol City, to start that journey.

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📂 Sheffield United v Bristol City Cheat Sheet

📈 Sheffield United v Bristol City Form & Tactics

All change at Sheffield United from Chris Wilder to Ruben Selles, but United should be able to weather the change successfully.

Selles is fairly adaptable, but he generally favours a four-man defence. Ahead of that, he is flexible in terms of how the attack is structured, but expect quick transition football with direct play, getting the ball forward with few touches.

I would expect Selles to go with a 4-2-3-1 formation to begin with for continuity and suitability with the players he has, but this could easily become a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. He is likely to defend in a 4-4-2 shape, but this will depend on how Bristol City build up.

There are differences with how Liam Manning achieved some success last season and how I would expect Struber to want to manage. However, this will have been discussed in the process of hiring Struber, so it will be interesting to see how this comes together over time.

I think that we can expect a direct style with speed on the counter-attack, which should nicely suit some of the forward players in the squad.

🏁 Ref Watch

Joshua Smith

• Smith is now a highly experienced Championship referee with 105 second-tier matches under his belt.

• Smith, one of the higher yellow card givers, averages 3.91 cards per match in his Championship career.

• He also averages a penalty in one in five matches, a fairly high rate over so many matches - something to bear in mind given the current regulations seeming to have more impact on penalties being given.

📊 Sheffield United v Bristol City Key Stats

• Sheff Utd won three out of four matches between the pair last season.

• United's points tally of 92 last season would've been enough for automatic promotion in seven of the last eight seasons.

• The Blades have lost two of their highest appearance makers from last season in Vini Souza and Anel Ahmedhodzic.

• This is Gerhard Struber's second managerial job in the Championship after a short spell at Barnsley.

• The Robins managed to reach the play-offs last season despite only winning four of their 23 away matches.

• No Championship team finished the season closer to their xG total than Bristol City did last season - they scored 59 from an xG of 59.2.

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.