Sheffield United vs Millwall: EFL Championship Match Preview
This coming Saturday, the third place Sheffield United Blades match up with Millwall F.C. at Bramal Lane in Sheffield, England. It’s tough to say which team needs the 3 points more, as Sheffield sits just 1 point behind Leeds United for the second automatic promotion spot with just 5 games to play. Millwall is holding on for dear life, sitting 19th in the table. At 41 points they are level on points with Reading F.C. and Wigan Athletic, and right now are only avoiding relegation on the basis of a 4 goal advantage in goal differential (-13 compared to -17 for Reading and Wigan). With so much at stake for both clubs, this is sure to keep a cracker of a match in spite of the distance between these two clubs in the table.
In their last 5 matches, The Blades are 3-1-1, while Millwall is 2-1-2. Sheffield United is lead by EFL Championship player of the year candidate Billy Sharp, who is currently second in the league with 23 goals, and David McGoldrick with 13 goals. Millwall is lead by Lee Gregory with 8 goals, but they do have 3 other players in the top 50 in scoring.
Sheffield United vs Millwall Vital Information
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This match can be viewed on ESPN + and iFollow in the United States, and on Sky Sports and iFollow in the UK at 9:555 AM ET.
David Webb will be the referee in the middle of the park along with assistants Mark Russell, Adam Matthews. The fourth official will be Jarred Gillett.
This will be the 56th meeting all time between Sheffield United and Millwall. In the previous 55 meetings, Sheffield has won 23 times, Millwall has won 23, and there have been 9 draws. The most recent meeting between the two was a 2-3 win for Sheffield at Millwall back on 29 September 2018.
Five Points That Shouldn’t be Overlooked
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Sheffield United has scored 23 more goals than Millwall this season, and has surrendered 20 fewer. This makes for a net goal differential advantage of 43 for The Blades, making this a lopsided battle on paper.
These teams have a long history, having met for the first time in the 1895 FA Cup. However, after that they didn’t meet again until 1914, also in the FA Cup. After that they didn’t see each other until they played in the second division in 1938 and 1939. Then they didn’t meet again all the way until 1967. 51 of the 55 prior matches have been since 1967.
Sheffield United has lost just 2 times in the calendar year 2019. Millwall has 8 losses in the calendar year 2019. Sheffield United hasn’t lost two games in a row since the opening 2 games of the season (4 and 87 August 2018) against Swansea City and Middlesbrough. Millwall has had losing streaks of 4 game (19-29 September 2018) and 5 games (23 February – 9 March 2019) during the course of the 2018-2019 season.
Millwall leading scorer Lee Gregory has scored just one goal since January 26th, a span of 14 matches, all of which he started. Sheffield’s leading scorer Billy Sharp has 5 goals in 10 appearances over that same time frame, including a hat trick against Aston Villa on 8 February 2019.
Before being held scoreless against Queens Park Rangers on 10 April 2019 . Millwall had scored in 11 consecutive games. They also had a 4 game winning streak from 26 December 2018 – 6 January 2019) but have won just 5 times since. Sheffield United has won 9 of their last 12 matches and has scored in each of their last 7 games.
Sheffield United vs Millwall Prediction
As you may have gathered from above, the tale of the tape stacks up pretty heavily against Millwall in this match. As is the case with any team battling relegation, they are not going to be giving up an inch on the pitch, but Sheffield is going to be just as hungry as they smell that automatic promotion. Anything can happen on any given day in the Championship, but Sheffield just has way too much depth, and way too much to play for, and there will be no upset on Saturday. Expect Sheffield to please the crowd at Bramal Lane with a 3-1 victory.
