Sheffield United travel to Leeds United on Friday night.
Sheffield United travel to their Leeds namesakes on Friday evening for the first meeting of the two sides since 2011, when the Blades were heading out of the Championship and into League One.
But if the two teams continue as they have been doing in the early stages of this season, there’s every chance they could both exit the second tier in the preferred way this time around.
Sheffield United currently sit a place and four points above Leeds in third position, and will fancy their chances despite their perceived away disadvantage.
As well as having three days longer to prepare for the game (although Leeds only used one of Saturday’s starters against Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday), the Blades boast a 100 per cent record in Yorkshire derbies this season, seeing off Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley so far, while Leeds, in contrast, were beaten 3-0 by the Owls at the start of this month.
Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, told a press conference this week that only two of his players are not in contention to face Leeds – Ched Evans and Kieron Freeman – neither of whom played against Reading on Saturday either.
The South Yorkshire side should be largely unchanged, therefore, with ex-Leeds striker Billy Sharp expected to lead the line alongside Leon Clarke.
West Yorkshire natives Jake Wright (Keighley) and Clayton Donaldson (Bradford) are likely to remain as substitutes, with another one, James Hanson (also Bradford), set to miss out entirely.
Here’s how their XI could look:
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