Sheffield United v Newcastle United – Blades manager Chris Wilder hoping Premier League can complete season

Wilder also revealed “four or five” of his players contracted the virus last summer and he is still not sure if some are suffering the effects.

His Blades host Newcastle United in the Premier League tonight in a rejigged round of fixtures.

Aston Villa’s match against Tottenham Hotspur, due to be played tomorrow, has become the fifth top-flight game postponed because of coronavirus. Tottenham now play Fulham instead.

Wilder knows he might be forced into a last-minute rethink at some point, and is concerned about the impact weakened sides could have on the competition.

“You have to react,” he said. “We’ve not got three, four or five young players knocking on the door and ready to play Premier League football and I wouldn’t want to put them in that environment as well because of the long-term effect it would have on them so it’s more of a fingers crossed scenario. I’ll hopefully get the call this (Monday) afternoon that everybody’s tested negative.

“The health of course is number one but after that the integrity of the competition because a level playing field is what we’re all after, certainly on the things we can control.

“There’s always been issues with teams fielding weakened sides at the back end of a season and our club has been involved in that (when they were relegated in 2007).”

The 2019-20 season was on hold for three months during the first national lockdown but with the 2020 European Championships moved to this summer, there is no such leeway now.

“I don’t think anybody would be surprised,” said Wilder when asked if he was concerned the season might be abandoned.

“I want to come into work, I want to play football. That’s been our stance and any decision has been left to the Government in conjunction with the Premier League.

“From the fantastic news regarding the vaccine we’ve been hit by a sucker punch straight away in terms of what the new strain is chucking out there.

“I get what other managers are saying from the mentality point of view (that playing on is good for the mental health of supporters) and from the morality point of it all, so we’ll just go with what the Government and Premier League say.”

Phil Jagielka and Billy Sharp are the most recent sufferers in the Blades squad but Wilder revealed cases which could have impacted his side’s start to the season.

On Saturday, Newcastle’s Jamaal Lascelles finally made his comeback after catching the virus in November, but only played half a game. Team-mate Allan Saint-Maximin is still to return.

“There were four or five cases with the players,” said Wilder. “A few of them missed pre-season, which is an important part of their conditioning.

“As you can imagine, ours is a tighter squad (than most) but we’ve all had to suffer with it, deal with it.

“Is there a lingering effect on some of them? No one’s got the golden answer. Are they back to full fitness? Nobody really knows.

“It affected Jags (Jagielka) a little bit more than Billy. We’ve had our analyst off and he’s had two or three issues. He had to go to hospital and back again, he had the ambulance out twice. He was in on Monday afternoon for an hour and had to go home.

“(Jagielka and Sharp) came back into training on Friday and they couldn’t really do too much. They were part of the group that went to Bristol Rovers but we only really looked at a 10 or 15-minute role if the team needed that and they were willing to do that. Jags is catching up a little bit more than Billy but you only know when you’re going full tilt.”

After four-and-a-half years under Wilder which has seen them rise from League One, Sheffield United are not used to relegation battles but there is still some experience for players to call on.

“As a first-team player I haven’t been involved in any relegation battles but when I was young I was in and around the squad at Sunderland and I saw it a few times,” said centre-back John Egan.

“I learned you have to stay positive. The senior pros at the time were brilliant at that, the likes of John O’Shea and Lee Cattermole were great at rallying the troops and looking ahead rather than looking behind.

“It’s a good way to approach life. Right now it is the best way to approach what we are going through.

“Tonight’s a chance for us to get the win and that’s all we’re focused on.”

Last six games: Sheffield United WLLLDL; Newcastle United LLDLLD

Referee: A Madley (Huddersfield)

Last time: Sheffield United 0 Newcastle United 2, December 5, 2019, Championship.

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