Sheffield United can clinch Premier League promotion this week - here's how

There was no shock result in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final as favourites Manchester City stayed on course to win the treble with a 3-0 win secured by Riyad Mahrez’s hat-trick.

But it whetted the appetite for the Championship Blades, who can win promotion to the Premier League by beating West Bromwich Albion at Bramall Lane on Wednesday, regardless of what Luton Town and Middlesbrough – the teams in third and fourth – do on Monday night.

If Luton win, they will be four points behind Sheffield United having played two games more, meaning United will need to win on Wednesday to secure promotion.

If Middlesbrough win, they will be five points behind the Blades having played two games more, meaning again, United will need to win on Wednesday to secure promotion as a draw would not mathematically guarantee it yet.

If Luton and Boro draw on Monday night, United only need a point against the Baggies.

“These are the games you want to be involved in,” insisted George Baldock, who marked £100m England international Jack Grealish. “You don’t grow up as a kid just wanting to jut play in average games do you? You want to play the best, you want to come up against the best managers, the best clubs in the biggest stadiums, that’s what you relish as a footballer.

“We’ve got an opportunity now in the next four games to guarantee 38 games at that level next season.”

Despite the scoreline, the Blades acquitted themselves well, limiting City’s chances until conceding a penalty late in the first half, then conceding possession to Mahrez on the hour.

“I think we stood up really well for big parts of the first half, until the goal really they didn’t really create much,” said Norway intentional Sander Berge. “We let them go wide and they don’t really try to cross it.

“We managed to stop the game as well and slow it down. We had our moments as well and I think we defended really well as a unit but it was too easy to give away that penalty and that gave them a little bit of momentum into the second half.

“It was too easy again on the second goal.

“That kills a bit of momentum because you felt how would they have been if that hadn’t happened.

“It’s always annoying when you feel the game goes away from you in that way. You can always live with them scoring from 20, 25 yards because you have to give them something with their quality players and he amount of possession they got. They didn’t do that and they broke us too easily.

“It was unlucky in the second half to give away that goal (when Mahrez caught Max Lowe in possession). “It never felt like they were dominating us in terms of creating chances.

“It is what it is, it’s a good learning curve and hopefully we’re playing teams like this next season.”

Like Baldock, Berge’s thought were already back onto the day job.

“Now we’ve got to focus back on the league and finish the job there. It’s been an exciting season,” he said.

“We have to focus because West Brom and Preston are doing well.

“Hopefully we can finish the job as soon as possible.”

Manager Paul Heckingbottom called on his team to learn from defeat. “We are always pushing we want to be better,” he said. “We don’t want to be a team that gets pats on the back, we want to be a team that gets results.”

City will face Manchester United in the final after Solly March’s spot-kick miss saw Brighton suffer semi-final shoot-out heartache.

Scoreless after 120 minutes, March blazed over, allowing Victor Lindelof to win it 7-6 on penalties.