AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth will be hoping to build on their most recent Premier League performance when they visit Sheffield United on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Dominic Solanke’s double earned the Cherries an impressive 2-0 win against Newcastle United at Vitality Stadium ahead of the international break.
Sheffield United host the Cherries on the back of taking four points from their past two games – a 2-1 win against Wolves at Bramall Lane and a 1-1 draw at Brighton.
Cameron Archer’s goal and a late penalty from Ollie Norwood downed Gary O’Neil’s team to earn the Blades their first win since returning to the Premier League this season.
Prior to beating Wolves, the South Yorkshire outfit had gone 11 games without a win, the run including no fewer than nine defeats in the top flight.
Their first point since finishing as runners-up in the Championship to Burnley came when they drew 2-2 with Everton at Bramall Lane at the start of September.
Ahead of Saturday’s clash, afcb.co.uk caught up with Richard Sutcliffe who covers the fortunes of the Blades for The Athletic.
SHEFFIELD UNITED PROFILE
Founded: 1899
Ground: Bramall Lane
Nicknames: The Blades
Record appearances: Joe Shaw – 714 games (1945-66)
Record goalscorer: Harry Johnson Jr – 252 goals in 351 games
Manager: Paul Heckingbottom (appointed November 2021)
Captain: John Egan (pictured below).
League position: 18th
Leading goalscorer in Premier League: Cameron Archer and Gustavo Hamer (two)
Last game: Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Sheffield United 1 (Premier League)
afcb.co.uk: Summarise the season so far for the Blades?
RS: They had an horrendous start which got everyone thinking this could be a very long season and it might still be.
Losing 8-0 against Newcastle was horrific, as was losing heavily against Arsenal (5-0). When they had a horrible season in 2020/21, they never got thrashed.
Fair play though, they have stuck at it and bounced back with a couple of really good results recently.
I still think they will go down, even with what’s happened to Everton.
But it might be interesting now and who knows, they might continue this form and get out of trouble.
afcb.co.uk: How would you describe Paul Heckingbottom’s two-year tenure?
RS: Fantastic. He’s had so many difficulties. He came in after Slaviša Jokanović and the club were really struggling, the season was going nowhere.
But he got it going again, he got players believing in themselves which is a big strength of his.
He turned Iliman Ndiaye from a kid in the academy to a fantastic footballer having worked with him previously in the under-23s.
They reached the play-offs and were very unfortunate to lose on penalties to Nottingham Forest.
He got them up last season in the face of huge off-field problems.
They had a transfer embargo placed on them in January and if they hadn’t gone up, I think they would have been in serious trouble. The riches of getting to the Premier League solve everything.
But without Paul Heckingbottom, I think the club would be in real trouble and people shouldn’t overlook that.
It’s been a bit of a struggle in terms of results this season but he’s had no money and his two best players – Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye – were sold in the summer.
He runs a really good ship and when there was talk of him losing his job a month ago, I thought that would have been the worst thing the club could have done.
afcb.co.uk: Which of their summer signings has impressed the most?
RS: The jury is still out on a lot of them.
We knew Cameron Archer (pictured above) was a good player when he came and he’s looked decent.
Vinicius Souza, a midfielder from Espanyol, looks a good signing.
It’s taking time to adapt and because they don’t have the money, these were signings with potential.
You hope they will do well in the Premier League but they are certainly not proven at Premier League level and they are taking time to settle.
The big thing in the summer was losing their two best players who were both in the final year of their contracts.
Pre-season had been built around those two players and then they were sold, one a week before the season started and the other more or less on the eve of the start of the season.
The club had to move fast then and they probably didn’t get their squad together until the end of the transfer window when three games had been and gone.
afcb.co.uk: Tell us about George Baldock’s early return from international duty?
RS: He went away with Greece and played in a friendly against New Zealand. He didn’t feature in the Euro 2024 qualifier against France and flew back to England.
He’s a key man. It’s no coincidence that the fighting spirit Sheffield United have had over the past four or five years has returned with him getting back from injury.
He’s a right wing-back but he plays on the right side of a back three.
He’s everything they need and if they are going to get out of trouble, it’s players like George (pictured above), Ollie Norwood and Oli McBurnie who they are going to need.
They are the people who know what Sheffield United mean and know how much hard work has to go in if a team like this is going to prosper.
afcb.co.uk: Which player has stood out for you this season?
RS: We did a round robin at The Athletic recently about who was the player of the year and I went for Jack Robinson (pictured above) which some people raised their eyebrows at.
He’s had his ups and downs as a Sheffield United player. He signed from Nottingham Forest in January 2020 and has been fantastic. He’s the one player who has stood out for me.
He’s not the most technically proficient or anything like that, but he’s the absolute heart and soul of a team which is fighting for its life now.
Three or four weeks ago, I thought they were going to go down without a whimper but they are actually making a fight of it and it’s because of characters like Jack Robinson.
afcb.co.uk: Are any key players either injured or suspended against the Cherries?
RS: There are quite a few out at the moment.
They have had such problems with injuries that they have brought in an outside consultant in the past month to find out what’s possibly causing it.
Last season, they thought it was the training pitch which was a boggy mess and that has been sorted out. But they are still getting niggly injuries and horrible contact injuries.
They had 12 out when they went to Arsenal so they have brought in somebody to try to check to see what is causing these injuries.
afcb.co.uk: How do you see the game panning out and what’s your score prediction?
RS: I have to say I fancy the Blades. Everything that happens at Bramall Lane will decide their fate and their 2-1 win against Wolves in their last home game just shows what can be achieved.
It was an awful first half but they really got going in the second half.
It was a similar game to when they beat Bournemouth 2-1 in 2019/20. John Lundstram got a late winner on a very snowy day!
I fancy a repeat of that so I’ll go with a 2-1 win to Sheffield United.
You can follow Richard on X (formerly Twitter) – @RSooty73
Officials: Andrew Madley (referee), Harry Lennard (assistant), Nick Hopton (assistant), Sunny Singh Gill (fourth official), Peter Bankes (VAR).
