Chris Wilder says Sheffield United ready to adapt as football's resumption changes the equation

When the Blades travel to Aston Villa on Wednesday, it will be for their first competitive game since the March 7 win over Norwich City.

The match will be played behind closed doors with strict coronavirus protocols to observe, and the number of substitutes allowed increased from three from seven to five from nine. Initially, at least, it would be understandable if the tempo was lower.

The momentum sides had in March will be largely irrelevant now. One defeat in their last 10 matches in all competitions put the Blades seventh in the table, whereas five straight defeats for Villa – who will have John McGinn back from a fractured ankle, but not Tom Heaton or Wesley – were second from bottom.

“I am not being negative because I am confident we can pick up and restart our season, but it will have helped some clubs,” reflected Wilder. “I'm not going to spin it, we were on a good run.

“Even though people think we've established ourselves (in the top division) it's still our first season in the Premier League and we have still got the bottom budget.

“I'm as intrigued as anyone to see if we can pick up in the manner we left off. It's going to be an intense schedule with the FA Cup chucked in there as well.”

If they can reach the FA Cup final – they have a quarter-final at home to Arsenal later this month – the Blades will play 13 matches in 45 days. The minimum for them will be 11 in 38.

Sheffield United were one of the few Premier League clubs who opposed the decision to increase the number of substitutes for the remainder of the season in line with Fifa's recommendation to try to help reduce injuries.

“We voted against the (five) substitutions,” confirmed Wilder. “We believe it benefits the powerful clubs with the bigger academies. I thought that wasn't the right way to go about it but we were outvoted so we have to go with that and respect the decision that has been made by the majority of the Premier League.

“We're ready to go, the boys have worked hard and are competitors. We got as much out of the (friendly) games we have played at Bramall Lane (to prepare for Villa) and we're confident we can show the consistent form that has got us in this position.

“The attitude of the players, not surprisingly, has been excellent. Our attitude has always has been that the season was paused, we had great belief we would restart. The difficult part has been not having a date to work to for quite a long time but as soon as we got that, the players have been looking forward to it and excited.

“From a tactical point of view, I don't think we're going to lose too much, I should imagine the majority of managers and teams will be the same. But it's obviously from the physical aspect, where you're going to be is the interesting bit and I suppose the key element with the amount of games we've got to play.”

Wednesday is Sheffield United's game in hand on the teams above, and victory will put them fifth going into the weekend, when the bulk of teams restart. Depending on the outcome of Manchester City's appeal against their two-year European ban, fifth place could qualify for the Champions League.

The Blades have been boosted by Oliver Norwood, Billy Sharp and David McGoldrick signing new contracts since training resumed last month, and are close to an agreement which would allow goalkeeper Dean Henderson's loan from European rivals Manchester United to be extended until the end of the campaign.

“We are in process of finalising Dean staying with us to the end of the season,” confirmed Wilder. “The manager (of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) was brilliant and was very pro Dean staying and in favour of what we have done for Dean.”

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