Sports Mole previews Friday’s Championship clash between Sheffield United and Cardiff City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Two sides fighting at opposite ends of the Championship table will do battle at Bramall Lane on Friday, as Sheffield United welcome Cardiff City.

The hosts have fallen five points behind the automatic promotion spots after three straight defeats, while their visitors sit a point adrift of safety.

Match preview

Sheffield United head back into action on Friday aiming to keep any slim hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship alive this season, having seen their top-two hopes take a major hit in recent weeks.

After returning from the March international break with a 3-1 home victory over Coventry City, stretching an unbeaten run to five matches including four victories, the Blades sat top of England’s second tier with 83 points on the board from 40 outings and only a two-point deduction denying them a healthy lead over Leeds United and Burnley.

Chris Wilder‘s side sat two clear of the fellow promotion-chasers at that stage, having won 26 of those 40 matches and only lost six, but they have since failed to add to their points tally in three crucial outings, firstly visiting Oxford United and falling as Siriki Dembele netted the only goal in the first half.

Millwall then visited Bramall Lane and left with all three points thanks to a solitary Josh Coburn goal, before the Blades most recently travelled to basement side Plymouth Argyle on Saturday and again came away empty-handed, despite leading through Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, as Ryan Hardie levelled in the 81st minute and Muhamed Tijani fired the hosts to a 2-1 win in the 89th minute.

Now trailing Leeds and Burnley by five points with four games remaining and a trip to the latter looming on Monday, Sheffield United will bid to get back to winning ways on Friday and move back within touching distance of the automatic promotion spots if other results go their way.

© Imago

Their visitors, meanwhile, head to South Yorkshire in desperate need of three points in their fight at the other end of England’s second tier.

With four games of their sixth straight Championship season remaining, Cardiff City find themselves 22nd with 42 points on the board, having lost 18 and only won nine of their 42 outings.

Indeed, from their last eight attempts since the beginning of March, the Bluebirds have only managed one victory and six points, with the solitary win coming away at Blackburn Rovers last month.

That was followed by three consecutive draws against Sheffield Wednesday, Queens Park Rangers and Preston North End after the March international break, but they were unable to stretch an unbeaten run to five games on Saturday, hosting Stoke City and falling to a 1-0 defeat as a Will Fish own goal five minutes from time made the only difference.

Now sitting a point adrift of safety and three behind 20th-placed Hull City, Cardiff City will aim to give their survival hopes a major boost by taking a big scalp at Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United Championship form:

Cardiff City Championship form:

Team News

Chris Wilder made five changes to his Sheffield United starting XI for last weekend’s trip to Plymouth Argyle, and we could again see alterations after a third straight defeat, with Tom Davies, Oliver Arblaster and Rhys Norrington-Davies remaining sidelined by injuries.

Tom Cannon was given the nod to lead the line and is still yet to open his account for the club following a January arrival, and he faces competition up front from Kieffer Moore and Tyrese Campbell, who leads the squad with 10 Championship goals this season.

Behind a lone striker, Callum O’Hare, Gustavo Hamer and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi will hope to continue in support despite competition from Rhian Brewster, and Ben Brereton Diaz, while Vinicius Souza and Harry Clarke were fit to feature from the outset in midfield and defence respectively last time out after injury layoffs and will hope to earn second consecutive starts on Friday.

Cardiff City continue to deal with several injury issues heading into Friday’s trip, with goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, midfielders Andy Rinomhota, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Ralls and winger Anwar El Ghazi confined to the treatment room.

Yousef Salech should again partner former Sheffield United man Callum Robinson up front, with the former having scored five league goals since his January arrival and the latter boasting 12 Championship goals this term.

Elsewhere, Calum Chambers should continue in the midfield alongside Alex Robertson and 19-year-old Leicester City loanee Will Alves, leaving Perry Ng, Will Fish and Jesper Daland to again form a back three.

Sheffield United possible starting lineup:

Cooper; Clarke, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, McCallum; Souza, Peck; Rak-Sakyi, O’Hare, Hamer; Campbell

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:Horvath; Ng, Fish, Daland; Ashford, Robertson, Chambers, Alves, O’Dowda; Salech, Robinson

We say: Sheffield United 1-0 Cardiff City

Desperately needing to end their rut to stand a chance of regaining a top-two spot, we back Sheffield United to make their quality count and return to winning ways with home advantage on Friday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

ID:570363:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:collect13406:Previews by email

Click here to get Sports Mole‘s daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!