With several first-team players now confirmed out, Chris Wilder has stated that he will have to make last-minute decisions regarding loan players Alfie Gilchrist and Harry Clarke before Sunday’s Steel City derby.
Sheffield Wednesday, whose patchy play-off run has all but eliminated any chance of a late charge, will welcome their fierce rivals to Hillsborough in an attempt to harm their prospects of automatic promotion. However, Danny Röhl’s team still hopes to place in the top ten, so they don’t need any extra motivation to do well this weekend.
The Steel City duo must first concentrate on their midweek games; Sheffield United hosts Bristol City this evening, and Wednesday is scheduled to play Norwich City. However, given the short turnaround, any existing fitness issues will unavoidably persist until the weekend derby.
Sheffield United has several injury problems to deal with. Midfielder Tom Davies hasn’t played since the team’s 3-1 loss to Leeds United at home last month, and Gilchrist (ankle) and Clarke (foot) have both missed recent games. Additionally, Wilder gave an update regarding derby-day ahead of his team’s midweek match.
“They both went to their parent clubs, so Alfie and Harry are back with us,” Wilder told The Star. Thus, we’ll evaluate them through the weekend. Tom Davies is also ruled out for tomorrow night since he won’t be available over the weekend. The two boys might be available on Sunday, but they won’t be accessible tomorrow night. We will evaluate them during the week.
If neither Clarke nor Gilchrist can recover in time for Sunday, Sheffield United will have a serious problem at right-back, and other obvious candidates in that position are also unlikely. Rhys Norrington-Davies, a versatile defender, has sustained a new injury that will keep him out for the season, while young player Femi Seriki is not yet considered ready for a start.
The news about Rhys is not good,” Wilder said. “He had surgery on his groin area after suffering a very regrettable injury from a block tackle, and the combination of the force of the challenge and the injury will keep him out for the remainder of the season.”
Wednesday’s weekend visitors may be missing six first-team players for the derby due to Jamie Shackleton’s and Oliver Arblaster’s season-long suspensions. This number could increase if centre-back Anel Ahmedhodzic receives his tenth yellow card of the season against Bristol this evening. Gus Hamer and Vinicius Souza were also benched due to problems against Preston on Saturday.
Stuart Armstrong, a January addition, will be sidelined for three to four weeks owing to a calf injury, thus Wednesday will also have problems on Sunday. Akin Famewo, Yan Valery, Anthony Musaba, and Di’Shon Bernard are also presently out.
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