Football Bet of the Day: Blades can continue climb

The games come thick and fast at this time of year and the festive period offers clubs the chance a golden chance to climb up the the standings if they can put a run together. 

Championship clubs will play six times between now and the first weekend of January, offering ample opportunity to build a promotion push. West Brom and Sheffield United are two such sides and our bet of the day for Friday comes in their televised meeting at The Hawthorns.

West Brom vs Sheffield United Odds

Things could not have started much worse for United this season but the Blades, last season's beaten play-off finalists, are finally beginning to show their true colours.

The decision to sack Chris Wilder following their dramatic loss to Sunderland at Wembley was a disaster for the Blades' hierarchy, who made a swift about turn in September when they dispensed of Ruben Selles after just six games and brought Wilder back to Bramall Lane for a third spell at the helm.

Wilder, who lost six of his first 10 games on his return to the Steel City, has admitted that he has found his attempts to turn the Blades' fortunes around harder than expected.

However, a 3-0 derby win over Sheffield Wednesday on November 23rd has proved a catalyst for a mini-revival and they are the form team in the second tier.

United followed their win at Hillsborough with further victories over Portsmouth (3-0), Leicester (3-2) and Stoke (4-0), and they should have beaten Norwich in midweek, when they had to settle for a 1-1 draw after a Djibril Soumare own goal handed the Canaries an unlikely point in South Yorkshire.

Wilder bemoaned the scrappy nature of Norwich's leveller, but he must have been pleased with the performance of the Blades, who racked up an expected-goals tally of 2.82 and had 17 shots.

United will soon regain the winning thread if they continue to post those sort of attacking numbers and, at 15-8, they look an excellent bet to win at West Brom on Friday night.

The Baggies are just one place higher and two points better off than the Blades after 20 games, but they have won only one of their last nine league games and are conceding far too many goals for comfort.

Pressure is mounting on Albion boss Ryan Mason and the West Midlands club may suffer another setback on Friday night against a confident Blades outfit.

Click here for the latest Football Odds and Today's Football Fixtures

You can read all our latest Football Bet of the Day offerings at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub