The Blades will come face to face with Bristol City in the semi final of The Championship Playoffs tonight at the Ashton Gate Stadium.
27,000 fans are set to watch the initial meeting between the sides at 8:00 to kick off this year’s Championship Playoffs. Sheffield are tipped to be favourites as they finished their season in third position on 90 points, with Bristol totalling 68 points. The home side, Bristol, enjoyed an improvement on last season’s 11th place finish, with the Robins aiming to get back to the top flight for the first time since they were relegated from the old First Division in the 1979/80 season.
United manager Chris Wilder feels confident going into the tie, stating in his recent press conference, ‘The preparation for the playoffs has been very good from a physical point of view, getting all those boxes ticked which we’ve done and getting back to winning ways.’ The second leg will fall on the 12th of May at Bramall Lane.
Both sides will hope to avoid the recent trend of Championship sides falling straight back down to the second tier after their initial Premier League campaign. Some feel the wealth discrepancy between the divisions has grown too great, with new teams no longer being able to compete with the financial might of the top tier clubs.
The winner will face the stronger of Sunderland or Coventry City at Wembley, with the final taking place on 24th of May.