Blades 'still have play-off hopes'

Although seven points adrift of the Championship play-off zone with only three games to play, Morgan says the Blades have not given up on the chase for promotion.

Victory tomorrow would avenge last season's double and also push Wednesday a step closer towards relegation to League One.

And if other results were favourable, the Blades could still be in play-off contention entering the penultimate weekend.

The Owls, however, are one point adrift of safety in the relegation zone and locked in a battle for survival. Chairman Lee Strafford has described tomorrow's derby as the biggest since the two clubs locked horns at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals 17 years ago.

Morgan says that the current position of both Sheffield clubs represents 'under-achievement' this season.

"For the first time in a few years we have a derby game where people are saying that the pressure is not on us," said Morgan. "They may be fighting for their lives but we still think we have got an outside chance of the play-offs.

"A club like Sheffield United should be in the play-offs at the very least," he added. "That is not arrogance, that is what we expect of each other. We have under-achieved, for whatever reason, but, mathematically, we still have a chance."

The Owls inflicted a first league double on the Blades for 95 years last season but lost 3-2 when the two clubs met at Bramall Lane last September.

Reflecting on those events, Morgan said: "They beat us twice last season and that hurt. They probably looked at that thinking they had stopped Sheffield United from going up.

"I look at the players they have got this season and I think they shouldn't be down there. I can't tell you what has gone wrong at Hillsborough because I am not involved.

"When the pressure is on, it depends what type of characters you are. Some players can play under pressure, some players cannot. If you have a squad that can deal with pressure, you have a squad that is going places. If the squad can't deal with big games and are wilting, you are not going to achieve much."

With no live television coverage, the game is likely to be a near 36,000 sell-out, guaranteeing an electric atmosphere for the 112th league meeting between the clubs.

"It will be a full house and a fantastic atmosphere," said Morgan. "Everyone is looking forward to it – but the Wednesday fans are a bit more nervous than the United supporters."

Owls manager Alan Irvine saw his own personal dream of managing in the Premier League destroyed by the Blades last season.

Having steered Preston North End to the play off semi-finals, the Blades inflicted a 2-1 aggregate defeat on Irvine and his former club.

Despite the pain of that defeat, Irvine insists that he will not be motivated by thoughts of revenge tomorrow afternoon.

"I could drive myself mad if I got bitter against everyone I lost games against," he said.

"You lose games, and Sheffield United deserved to win the games against Preston last season. They were better than us over the two games and I said that at the time. It is a very different team now, too."

Although Blades manager Kevin Blackwell blames injury problems for his club's failure to be sitting higher up the Championship table, Irvine thinks his opponents tomorrow are coming back to full strength.

"Earlier on this season, they had a lot of players out injured but Kevin is now a lot closer to having what his best team would be.

"He has had a lot of problems, no doubt about it, but he's had the money to be able to bring other players in. We have got less choices than they have so I would expect they will probably be able to guess my side."

The Blades lost a grip on play-off qualification during a sequence of nine games that produced only one victory. They returned to winning ways last time out, however, against Coventry City.

Wednesday were unbeaten in six games before back-to-back defeats against Bristol City and Middldsbrough sucked the club back into the drop zone.

"Confidence has not taken too much of a battering because our performances have been okay," said Irvine.

"The players know that they are not too far away. If they keep applying themselves in the way they have done, things can turn around."