On 18th January 1997 Sheffield United beat Southend United by three goals to nil in what is commonly known as the Championship. That day, before a crowd of just 15,049 (there will no doubt a few thousand more today) goals from Belarus International Petr Katchouro and second half successes from David White and Gareth Taylor were enough to ensure victory and lift the Blades to second in the table - a similar result wouldn't go a miss.
Recently the Blades have hit a blip at home and as reported two days ago, the Blades could condone to their 500th home league defeat should they lose today against the Shrimpers. United lost their last home league fixture against Millwall (1-2) on 24 October, since then they were defeated at Crewe Alexandra (0-1), beat Worcester City (3-0) in the FA Cup as well as being eliminated from the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in a penalty shoot-out after drawing 0-0 at Fleetwood Town last Tuesday night.
Sheffield United midfielder James Wallace could make his first league appearance since August in the home game against Southend. Wallace has been dogged by several muscular injuries since joining the Blades in the summer of 2014 but came through 70 minutes unscathed in the midweek Johnstone's Paint Trophy penalty shootout defeat at Fleetwood.
Defender Jay McEveley (toe) played the full 90 minutes in his first appearance in a month and could be in contention, while goalkeeper George Long will be hoping to resume after successive clean sheets Midfielder Louis Reed (foot) was forced off in midweek and will be monitored, as will Chris Basham, Paul Coutts and Che Adams, who missed out on Tuesday night due to knocks.
A victory for Southend would be enough to leap frog the Blades, their Southern opponent’s lay 12th in the table with only one point being the difference. Last Wednesday night they advanced to the Southern section Semi-Final of the JPT after beating Bristol Rovers by a single goal. Most recently, in the league, the Shrimpers have not won a game since 17 October at home to Barnsley, since then they have lost once and drawn their last two outings.
Southend defender Adam Thompson is hoping to retain his place having returned to the side following seven months out with a shoulder injury for Wednesday night's Johnstone's Paint Trophy win over Bristol Rovers at Roots Hall.
"The gaffer will do what he thinks best, but I hope to have done enough to put myself in his mind for the Sheffield United game," Thompson said. Shrimpers boss Phil Brown is, though, expected to change around his starting XI again for a return to League One action, having also given the likes of fit-again centre-back Adam Barrett a run-out in midweek after his ankle injury lay-off. Winger Stephen McLoughlin will be monitored after missing the Bristol Rovers game.
Blades-Mad Prediction: Sheffield United 2 Southend United 0
