Sheffield United

Image source, Rex Features

Sheffield United's Harrison Burrows says he is getting back to his best after a sticky patch at Bramall Lane.

The 24-year-old, who enjoyed a fine first season with the Blades last year after joining from Peterborough United, lost his starting place at the beginning of October after a dip in confidence.

But, restored to the left-back spot by Chris Wilder and buoyed by his goal against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, Burrows believes he is nearing top form again.

"I've not been in the best form of my career so it has been about conversations and just reminding myself of the player that I am and getting back to the level that I know I can get to," he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"Reminding myself in my own head of what a player I was last year and what I can achieve and what I want the end of my career to look like... That's the motivation to me."

Burrows' goal - his second of the season - helped United to a 2-1 derby win which leaves them 14th and six points outside the play-off positions ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Championship leaders Coventry at Bramall Lane (19:45 GMT).

"Our goal is to get into the play-offs and we're going to keep working as hard as we can and strive for it," added Burrows.

Image source, Opta

Sheffield United will seek to continue their climb up the Championship table when leaders Coventry visit on Wednesday (19:45 GMT).

The Blades are 14th, as high as they have been all season, and just six points behind the play-off spots after Sunday's 2-1 derby win over Sheffield Wednesday at Bramall Lane, which made it 13 points from their past six matches for the Blades.

Coventry have restored a three-point advantage at the top and a nine-point cushion in the race for automatic promotion courtesy of back-to-back wins over closest challengers Middlesbrough and Saturday's 2-0 win at lowly West Brom.

• Sheffield United are unbeaten in their past seven home league games against Coventry (W5 D2) since a 2-1 loss in February 2013.

• Following their 3-1 win in November, Coventry are looking to complete the league double over Sheffield United for the first time since 2001/02.

• Sheffield United have won four of their eight midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games this season (D1 L3), scoring exactly three goals in each victory.

• Coventry are unbeaten in their past eight midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (W6 D2), since a 2-0 loss at Derby in March last season.

• Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has won all three of his home league games against Coventry by an aggregate score of 6-1.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder credited his team's fast start for winning the Steel City derby.

Goals from Patrick Bamford and Harrison Burrows inside the opening 20 minutes set the platform for the 2-1 win that relegated Wednesday to League One.

It was the fourth time in their past eight league matches at Bramall Lane that they have been two up by the interval.

"We blew them away with a big start," Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"We talked about our start against Stoke, Leicester, Birmingham, Ipswich and even Middlesbrough - they're top sides - and we blew the opposition away.

"After that 20, 25-minute period, we started taking an extra touch or looking for that killer ball too much instead of what we'd done in the first 20 minutes, which was to open them up and give them no opportunities to get a foothold in the game."

But rather than go on and secure a commanding victory, Kalvin Phillips' dismissal reduced them to 10 men before Charlie McNeill pulled a goal back for the Owls.

Wilder said: "We spoke at half-time about the eventualities of what can happen if we don't approach it in the right way. We talked before about how we're in complete control of this day and if we lose control, they're game and have a puncher's chance.

"And we gave them an opportunity with a decision Kalvin made. You can't say it was anything but a red card, and on top of that, a great finish to get them back in the game. Then it was game on.

"Then we had to show the different qualities, even though they never really opened us up apart from a couple of little forays we dealt with comfortably."

Sheffield Wednesday could be relegated by their city rivals United on Sunday.

Defeat at Bramall Lane would consign the Owls to League One for next season, although a win for West Brom over Coventry on Saturday and at least a point for Blackburn on Friday against Preston would seal their fate before they even kick a ball.

Sheffield United were bottom of the table and below Wednesday when Chris Wilder returned to the club in September but have since moved 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

• Sheffield United have won each of their past three league games against Sheffield Wednesday, and last won four in a row against their rivals in September 1953 (4).

• Sheffield Wednesday have not scored in any of their past six matches against Sheffield United – across all competitions, only against one other side have they had a longer run of meetings without scoring (7 v Oxford between 1971 and 1974).

• Sheffield United have lost their past two home league games against fellow Yorkshire opponents (0-3 v Hull and 1-3 v Leeds). The last time they lost three in a row at home to Yorkshire sides was over a century ago, suffering defeats against Bradford (twice) and Sheffield Wednesday between 1910 and 1911.

• Sheffield Wednesday could become just the second team to lose 10+ consecutive games in the Championship (lost their past nine), after Rotherham between February and April 2017 (10).

• Patrick Bamford has scored five goals in seven home league games for Sheffield United so far. His minutes per goal ratio at Bramall Lane (89) is the best by any Blades player in a single Championship campaign (minimum 3 goals scored).

Image source, EFL

Puma's Rainbow ball will return to the English Football League as part of an on-going campaign against discrimination and homophobia.

The special edition rainbow ball was introduced in 2024 to mark LGBTQ+ History Month and will be used at every EFL game from 20 February until 1 March.

Manufacturers Puma will make a donation to Football v Homophobia for every goal scored with their rainbow ball across the Championship, League One and League Two.

The donations will help support education against homophobia and promote inclusion across the season.

The EFL have released a video, external to coincide with the campaign which features a Preston North End fan who was charged with a hate crime following homophobic chanting during an FA Cup fixture against Chelsea.

The rainbow ball will also feature in EFL partner EA Sports' FC 26 video game.

"The rainbow ball is a powerful symbol of the values we uphold across the EFL all season long," EFL chief executive officer Trevor Birch said.

"It not only reflects our longstanding commitment to ensuring the League is representative of all its diverse communities, but also reminds us that we all have a role to play in creating an environment in which everyone feels they truly belong."

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield following Saturday's win at Portsmouth.

"It was mentality maybe over control and us imposing ourselves. They were better at what they did in the first half than what we did, but they never put us to bed," he said.

"We grew into the game in the second half. At half-time we talked about it, that we could be a little bit better and I'm not so sure they could do any better than that.

"We knew the game would settle down a little bit and it did, and we started to impose ourselves.

"I thought Kalvin [Phillips] in the middle of the park, it was a really tough one to get chucked into because of the pace and the nature of the game and the intensity of it. They had two midfielder players who were all over our midfield players, and they won that battle in the first half. But Kalvin gave us an opportunity to start finding passes and getting out, while always knowing the opposition are dangerous.

"Maybe I would have taken a point with 10 minutes to go, and that not being negative because this is a difficult place to come. So to get a winner is brilliant for everybody."

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder says his team have been in promotion-chasing form in the Championship despite their defeat to league leaders Middlesbrough on Monday night.

The Blades face another tough test when they visit Fratton Park on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 GMT) to take on a Portsmouth side who fare better on home soil.

"We talked about it, over the last 15 games it's been top-of-the-table stuff," Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"So obviously we've nudged our position down a little bit with not getting a result [against Boro].

"But I'm not going to beat the boys up too much about it and we go again on Saturday."

United have won nine of their past 16 games (D2 L5), picking up 29 points in the process to climb from 22nd to 17th, and are eight points behind the play-off places.

Only Middlesbrough (32), Ipswich (31) and Norwich (30) have gained more points in that time.

In terms of team selection at Pompey, Wilder said he did not expect there would be "wholesale changes" to the line-up, "especially after how the team performed" against Boro.

"The result obviously was not the one that we were after, but it's quite easy to look at the shortcomings of the team on Monday night and maybe dismiss a lot of positive actions and periods of that game against a top side," he added.

"Of course we want to win. We want to win at everything we do.

"But definitely not looking too much from a negative point of view, looking at a lot of the stuff that we did pretty well that night and hopefully taking that forward into Portsmouth on Saturday."

Image source, Opta

Portsmouth will seek to put ground between themselves and the Championship drop-zone when Sheffield United visit on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Pompey start the day two places and one point above the relegation zone, although they have two games in hand on third-bottom Blackburn.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Preston ended a four-match unbeaten streak but the Blues are unbeaten and have taken 11 points from their past five games at Fratton Park.

The Blades are six points better off in 17th but know a win could take them within five points of the play-off spots.

They have however taken just one point, and scored one goal, across their past three games away from Bramall Lane.

• Portsmouth have lost just one of their past 11 home league games against Sheffield United (W6 D4), going down 2-1 in January 2003 under Harry Redknapp.

• Following their 3-0 win in November, Sheffield United are looking to complete the league double over Portsmouth for the first time since 1995/96.

• Portsmouth have alternated between a win (3) and a draw (2) in their past five home league games, beating West Bromwich Albion 3-0 last time out.

• Sheffield United won four of their first seven Championship away games following Chris Wilder's return last September (L3). However, they have only won one of the past six on the road in the league (D1 L4).

• Adrian Segecic has netted six goals in the Championship this season, twice as many as any other Portsmouth player (Yang Min-Hyeok and Terry Devlin on 3).