United opened up their League One account with a 2-0 victory at Oldham Athletic last Saturday, before travelling to Hartlepool United on Tuesday night in the first round of the Football League Cup and sneaked through on penalties following a tense 120 minutes of football.
Blades boss Danny Wilson will be forced to make slight changes to his side due to the substitute’s rule which permits him to name just five players as opposed to seven he named last Tuesday night. He gave a full debut to on-loan Wolves winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and may retain his place this weekend.
Striker Chris Porter (injured) is a doubt ahead of clash with Brentford as is winger Ryan Flynn (hamstring). Meanwhile Ched Evans (ankle), Chris Morgan (knee), Johannes Ertl (knee) and Andy Taylor (knee) are also sidelined with injury.
Blades Possible Line-Up (4-4-2):
Simonsen
Lowton – Maguire - Collins – Lescinel
Flynn – Montgomery – Williamson – Quinn
Cresswell – Bogdanovic
Brentford manager Uwe Rosler is expected to make some alterations to the side which was dumped out the League Cup last Tuesday night at Edgar Street as French striker Yoann Arquinn netted a 90th minute winner for Hereford United.
They are boosted by the return of on-loan Celtic midfielder Niall McGinn who missed the midweek defeat due to an international call-up to the Northern Ireland squad who faced the Faroe Islands last Wednesday night.
The Bees were also without Leon Logge (calf), winger Kirk Hudson and Toumani Diagouraga (knee) who are sidelined through injury.
We’ve met before...
Overall Brentford have a better Head-to-Head record against the Blades – but you have to go all the way back to November 1982 since the Bees last claimed a victory at Bramall Lane. However our last meeting with tomorrow’s opponents was during the 1988/89 Third Division campaign.
At Bramall Lane the pair drew 2-2 whilst away from home United romped to a 4-1 victory as they stormed the league and won automatic promotion.
|
venue |
p |
w |
d |
l |
gf |
ga |
|
Bramall Lane |
11 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
20 |
17 |
|
Griffin Park |
12 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
19 |
20 |