Sheffield United suffer injury blow ahead of Sunderland game with 264 goal striker potentially sidelined

The two sides face off at Bramall Lane in the Championship on Wednesday evening with the game due to be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

That comes Sunderland’s exciting 2-2 draw against QPR at the Stadium of Light last Saturday. On Sunday, Sheffield United were held to a 2-2 draw by Middlesbrough.

However, during the game, Billy Sharp, 36, was forced off at half-time with an ankle injury. The ex-Leeds United man has netted 264 times so far during a stellar career.

The Blades were twice pegged back by Middlesbrough after taking the lead through Sander Berge and then a Ryan Giles own goal. Two strikes from Chuba Akpom were enough to earn his side a share of the spoils against United on Teesside.

After the game, Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom said: "Bill’s done his ankle. He was limping and we tried to strap it, but we can’t get a break with that (injuries).

"Ozzy (Ben Osborn) did his ankle the other day when we’re trying to manage him and we’re getting niggles we don’t need. Fingers crossed, Bill’s not too bad but we won’t know until he settles down."

On the draw against Boro, Heckingbottom added: "I enjoyed it. It was a good game, if I enjoy our intent, then generally we’ve done well.

"We want to be the same away as at home, be aggressive and stand up to everyone, and we’ve come here and tried to take them on. Both teams were trying to win it and both managers probably thinking they should have.

"In the first half, we started really well. We played forward and there was an intent, we wanted to set the agenda and got the early goal.

"We didn’t create enough for the good areas we got in. I think Andre (Marriner) should have helped us out a few times, but we were the better team at the start of the second half and we scored we thought we’d go on and win.

"We’re disappointed with the goal we conceded but credit Boro for coming back and that’s what made it for a good game."