Sheffield United will travel to Fulham with the lowest defensive record in the Premier League.
This season, no team in the Premier League has faced more shots (156) than Sheffield United. Despite Wes Foderingham’s best efforts in goal, the Blades have the division’s poorest defensive record.
United has been anchored to the bottom of the table after three consecutive defeats. They were thrashed 8-0 at Bramall Lane by Newcastle United a week ago and lost 2-0 at West Ham United the previous time out.
Paul Hecking bottom’s side go to London this afternoon to face Fulham, still looking for their first win of the season. Cottagers midfielder Tom Cairney, on the other hand, is unwilling to underestimate United.
Read more:Sheffield United sends message ahead of Fulham match with a clear plan for Craven Cottage showdown
“I think everyone has seen the result they had against Newcastle,” he went on to say. “Sometimes you get those outlandish results.
“Bournemouth won 9-0 away against Liverpool last year.” Everyone predicted that they would have a terrible season, but they ended up having a fantastic one.
“Any Premier League team is going to be hard to beat, but we’ve got to look at ourselves and hopefully go into the international break with a win.”
Cairney hopes that United are still hungover after their battering at the hands of Newcastle United. “It’s got to affect your confidence a little bit,” the 32-year-old, a former Blades transfer target, admitted. It has to since it is a crushing defeat. At the same time, it can motivate them to prevent this from happening.
“I’ve always found Sheffield United to be a difficult team to play against over the years.” Saturday will most likely be the same. It’ll be a difficult game. Their team’s spine is still pretty ancient. They’ve been there for quite some time.”
Heckingbottom will have to make one forced alteration to his starting lineup, with John Egan out for an extended period of time due to injury. Following his appearance for West Ham, striker Rhian Brewster is vying for a starting spot.
“They’ve not changed in terms of approach since the season they went up,” Heckingbottom said of Fulham. “There have been subtle changes to it more around the personnel because they’ve gradually improved the squad.”
“They were very strong in the Championship when they were promoted, improved and did really well in the Premier League, and tried to improve again this season.” We have a pretty good idea of how the tactical setup will go. A talented squad with some good players, so we’ll have to be extremely powerful without the ball while still being very good with it in order to have our moments.”
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