Sheffield United vs Coventry Prediction: Blades backed in tight clash

What a welcome back to club football this is. The Championship offers up a monstrous clash between Sheffield United in second and Coventry City in fifth, with both sides having aspirations of playing in the Premier League in August. The Blades certainly have stronger hopes right now, they are currently level on points with Leeds United at the top of the table, while the Sky Blues have surged into the play-offs under Frank Lampard. 

This one kicks off at 20:00 on Friday night, live on both Sky Sports Main Event and ITV4, and you can find my Sheffield United vs Coventry prediction below. 

Team News

Oliver Arblaster remains out for the season along with Rhy Norrington-Davies, while Jamie Shackleton is also absent. Tom Davies and Harry Clarke are doubts, while Alfie Gilchrist is in the same category having gone back to Chelsea for treatment over the international break. 

Hopes will be pinned on the fitness of Vinicious Souza, who has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury and may not be fit quite yet. Callum O’Hare and Gustavo Hamer will grab a lot of the headlines, with the two former Coventry stars both set to start against their former club. Hamer took the club to within a breath of the Premier League and will once again get a good reception, but I’m not sure the same can be said for O’Hare. 

Football Odds

Talking of Coventry, they put in their best performance of the season last time out against Sunderland, so Lampard may be tempted to name an unchanged XI. Hat-trick hero Haji Wright is certain to start up front, flanked by Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Ephron Mason-Clark. In midfield, Jack Rudoni should be back available for selection after his dislocated shoulder, but is unlikely to break back into the XI at the first time of asking. 

Instead, Jamie Allen should captain the team again alongside Matt Grimes, with Victor Torp playing in a more advanced role. Oliver Dovin has been superb in goal of late and will play behind Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Liam Kitching and either Jay Da Silva or Jake Bidwell at left-back. Josh Eccles looks to have picked up a serious injury that could rule him out while Ben Sheaf missed the game against Sunderland but could return to the squad here. 

Sheffield United vs Coventry Odds

Sheffield United are the favourites to win this game, priced at 21/20 to do so. That gives them an implied win probability of 48%, having won 13 of their 19 Bramall Lane fixtures in the league. Coventry are available at 23/10 and they’ve won 10 of their last 12, although they did lose their last away game 2-0 to a resurgent Derby County. 

A draw can be backed at 11/5, over 2.5 goals is 10/11 and BTTS is 4/5, but only 37% of Sheffield United’s games have seen both teams score, the third-lowest total in the division. Tyrese Campbell, Tom Cannon and Kieffer Moore are all 11/2 to open the scoring.

Sheffield United to win and BTTS @ 16/5

Even with my sky blue hat on, I think I have to back Sheffield United to come out on top. With eight games to go, we can talk about underlying numbers until the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is that they don’t matter at this stage. The Blades have won two more points than Leeds on the pitch this season and Chris Wilder has built a team that gets the job done. 

A massive derby day win over Sheffield Wednesday took them joint-top and they’ve now won seven of their last nine games. Amazingly, six of those seven wins have come by just one goal, and I can see something similar unfolding on Friday night. Coventry are a good outfit, but if they concede first it's going to be tough. If I had to pick out a correct score I would go for Sheffield United 2-1 Coventry, but let’s give ourselves a bit of leeway with United to win and BTTS. 

Haji Wright to score anytime @ 11/5 

Let’s back the Coventry forward to find the net at Bramall Lane. The American had been out for over three months with an ankle issue and didn’t get to feature under Lampard until the week before the international break. After a dismal display at Derby in which Wright was left on for the full 90, clearly the former Chelsea manager knew what he was doing with the USA international, getting him important minutes to get back up to speed. 

He duly delivered the following game against Sunderland as he tore them apart, scoring three goals in his first start down the middle under the Coventry manager. He’d been used as a wide forward to accommodate Ellis Simms in the past, but now it seems as though he will be used down the middle, with the form of Mason-Clark forcing Lampard’s hand in that sense. 

His hat-trick was superb against Sunderland as he fired in with his weak foot from long range for the first, won and converted a penalty for the second and then dinked the onrushing Anthony Patterson with his left foot for the third. A superb display from one of the finest goalscorers in the division. I think he can find the net on the break against this Sheffield United outfit, who will be desperate to take top spot with a win. 

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