Fresh from a win in the F.A cup alongside their first Premier League victory, the Blades will be up for Sunday’s clash.
They’ll be looking at this Spurs team with the knowledge it’s going to be tough, and that their ability to move from defence into attack at lightning speed will cause the hosts some problems.
In a press conference on Friday, Jose Mourinho claimed Sheffield United “are not the worst team in the Premier League. At all.”
He added: “If our mind is: ‘we are going to play against the worst team in the Premier League’ we are going to be in big trouble.”
The special one’s Spurs have only had one victory in six Premier League games and not won away from home in four fixtures. They sit in sixth place in the Premier league with 30 points from 17. A win will be crucial for them to revive some form in the league.
United’s poor start to the season goes without saying, as they sit bottom on 5 points from 18 games. Chris Wilder remains in charge at Bramall Lane. He said on Friday he hopes his players can now push on and “show the belief and confidence they’ve shown over the last 4 or 5 days”.
Billy Sharp’s 73rd-minute penalty against Newcastle on Tuesday gave United fans the three points they so desperately waited for. They’ll be thanking VAR for delivering that boost of confidence Wilder speaks of.
If both of the Blades’ wins in the last week can be built upon by an unexpected victory against Spurs, they’ll make some headlines. Perhaps even more than when the team celebrated in close contact after Sharp’s winner, sparking controversy in the wider media over social distancing.
From what I have seen of Sheffield United and Spurs this season, I expect United to teeter around with the ball on the edge of the Spurs box, misplace a pass or fail to find the men in the middle with a cross and then Spurs will be away on the counter-attack. It doesn’t take a Spurs loyalist to understand how lethal Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane react when opposition teams lose the ball.
United’s morale must have sky-rocketed after the last week though, and it is characteristic of Spurs to score early and then allow the opposition to take chances later on. This one could be more interesting than at first glance for the neutral.
