Sheffield United insider explains what Sunderland fans need to know about the Blades ahead of play-off final

Sunderland will see their promotion fate settled at Wembley on Saturday as they face Chris Wilder's Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final.

The Blades were firm contenders for automatic promotion for much of the regular season, overcoming a points deduction to push Leeds United and Burnley to the final weeks of the campaign. A dip in form at a crucial time meant they were forced to settle for third, but they showed their calibre with an emphatic 6-0 win over Bristol City across the two legs of their semi final.

So what's the mood like at Bramall Lane and what do Sunderland fans need to know about Wilder's side?

For the inside track we caught up The Yorkshire Post's Chief Football Writer, Stuart Rayner, who has reported on and closely followed the Blades so far this season. Here’s what he told us...

- Stu, tell us a little bit about the mood at Sheffield United going into this game? There was the disappointment of dropping out of the top-two race but the response to that has clearly been very good...

“Time will tell but maybe we might end up saying Sheffield United dropped out of the title race at just the right time. The conventional wisdom is always to worry about a team that spends most of the season focussed on the league, and has to refocus on the booby prize of the play-offs.

The Blades might have been in that category had they missed out on the final day, but dropping in with two games to spare gave them an opportunity to get their heads right and not too long to tick over, like Sunderland. They certainly looked mentally and physically sharp in beating Bristol City 3-0 home and away so the spirits amongst the players should be good.

As for the fans, the Blades have a horrendous record in play-offs - nine without success, including one under the old format where they played a team from the division above - and at Wembley, where their only win was their first appearance in 1925. People who read into those omens will be very wary indeed but Wilder has been using your friends on the banks of the Tyne as an example of why miserable histories mean nothing. Now he can chuck Crystal Palace in too.

- How has the season so far been viewed by Blades' followers? It can be easy to forget it all actually started with a two-points deduction and 92 would normally land you automatic promotion after 46 games....

“The previous season was dreadful and whilst back then repeating Sunderland's 2017-18 campaign and following relegation from the Premier League to dropping straight out of the Championship might have seemed extreme, Luton Town have shown it was not.

Having a record-breakingly bad squad to rip up was made harder by an owner in Prince Abdullah who had been found wanting financially in the upper echelons of English football, which was the reason for the points deduction. The week before the season started, Kieffer Moore and Harrison Burrows were the only paid-for signings. In that context, winning 94 points was a huge achievement.

The way they have played and the point they have made of involving fans after games has reconnected them with the disenchanted. But of course once you are involved in a title race, and with the Prince selling up at Christmas and a big transfer fee splashed out on Tom Cannon in January, you hope for automatic promotion.

- Can you give us a bit of an insight into how you expect Sheffield United to set up for this one - and what the main selection dilemmas for Chris Wilder are?

“Good question. Until recently it was very clear. Wilder abandoned the back three formation he made his name at Bramall Lane with first time around for a 4-2-3-1, and has stuck by it. But in four of the last five games he has gone with Moore in a 4-4-2 and played more direct. At the same time, Callum O'Hare has been brilliant and has scored in the last two matches coming off the bench as a No 10.

The back half of the team will be Cooper, Choudhury, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows, Souza and Peck. In front of them he can have Moore the targetman, Tyrese Campbell running the channels, Cannon or Rhian Brewster dropping off, O'Hare in the hole, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi as a proper, direct winger, Ben Brereton Diaz (or Brewster) as a wide attacker, or Andre Brooks as a wide midfielder. The only attacking certainty is that Gustavo Hamer will drift between the lines as he pleases, probably nominally from the left.

- There's plenty of players in the squad that Sunderland fans will have seen a lot of over the years, so can you tell us who maybe the unsung heroes or not quite so high-profile potential matchwinners in this squad are?

“Burrows can be very dangerous at set pieces as a creator or scorer and Campbell is belatedly showing the promise of his youth up front - probably the only finisher you would really hang your hat on at this moment. Rak-Sakyi can wear a full-back down or come on when Dennis Cirkin is tiring. But as most Championship fans know, Hamer is the class act.

- Can you sum up the main strengths, and potential areas of weakness, in this Sheffield United side?

“The goalkeeper Michael Cooper, is outstanding and well protected. Vincius Souza - way out of his depth in the Premier League, now a key player - and youngster Sydie Peck can match Sunderland's energy, even if the latter's wait for a senior goal is starting to tell. Jack Robinson's long throws are dangerous - more so if Moore is on the field - and he will relish any aerial stuff coming his way. With all those attacking options, the subs can make a difference.

Hamza Choudhury is a central midfielder out of position at right-back, Burrows a very modern full-back when it comes to the balance between defence and attack so Sunderland's wide men can be a threat.

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