The Verdict: Boxing Day joy as Sheffield United cruise to Lane win

But contemporary events are likely to paint a different picture, certainly as far as Blades manager Chris Wilder is concerned.

Twelve months to the day since the Blades recorded a 2-0 win over Oldham to continue their inexorable rise to the top of League One, Wilder’s side enjoyed another holiday occasion to savour.

It was not a ‘Boxing Day Massacre’ on quite the same scale as the Blades’ painful 4-0 loss at Hillsborough 38 years ago, but it was a comprehensive home victory nevertheless.

Heading into this festive game on the back of a six-match winless streak that had seen them drop outside of the play-off positions, the need to arrest that sequence was imperative for the hosts.

United did that on an exceedingly comfortable occasion to reclaim their place in the top six in front of a bumper crowd of 30,668, the biggest at Bramall Lane since the final day of last season.

It was the sort of stress-free afternoon that Wilder and Unitedites would probably have not envisaged beforehand against a Sunderland side who had been showing signs of relative improvement under Chris Coleman.

In the event, the outcome of the game was never in doubt right from the moment John Lundstram fired the hosts into a 36th-minute lead against a visiting side whose confidence levels visibly drained from that point with their efforts being pitiful.

The sight of Richard Stearman and George Baldock scoring their first goals for the club added further to the sense of well-being as the Blades backed up their stirring performance at Villa Park and provided ample evidence to suggest that their recent downturn in form and results is over.

It was an imposing performance in keeping with much of the Blades’ assertive and unstinting efforts in a vintage 2017 and the sight of the hosts going for the jugular and preying upon Sunderland’s uncertainties will have pleased Wilder immensely.

On a rewarding day, Wilder said: “It was important we carried things forward on from Aston Villa and we did that and got a little bit of the old swagger back.

“The players set their standards high and we had slipped. But we fully deserved the 3-0 result and it was a justified scoreline. We did not give them time and space to get their heads up.

“We dominated the game from start to finish and we scored goals from different areas, which is great for Richard and George, and got a clean sheet, which was good for the team as well.”

Goalmouth action in the opening half hour may have been minimal, but the tempo exclusively came from the hosts, with a home win looking the only outcome from a relatively early juncture.

Without top-scorer Lewis Grabban – who has netted 12 of the Black Cats’ 28 league goals so far this term – the visitors looked completely toothless and their meek offensive threat in the second half simply reinforced that inescapable conclusion.

The breakthrough did take some time, but it eventually arrived and it proved to be a choice moment for Lundstram.

His pinpoint and instinctive low shot following a pull-back from Mark Duffy on 36 minutes lit up proceedings with the visitors raising the equivalent of a white flag from that moment.

In his post-match musings, dejected Sunderland manager Coleman spoke candidly about the Blades looking hungrier, fitter and sharper from that point and it was difficult to argue.

It was also impossible to disagree with his assertion that the scoreline could have been more emphatic.

A second goal almost arrived within moments when Jack O’Connell’s header sailed just wide following a corner from the impressive Duffy. But home supporters did not have too long to wait for a second on the restart.

It came when Duffy delivered an inviting free-kick that was attacked by the unmarked Stearman, whose powerful downward header went in off a post.

It was now plainly only a question of how many goals the Blades would go on to score.

A third goal duly arrived in the 62nd minute with the visiting defence again all at sea as Baldock stole in the box to dispatch a thumping header past the exposed Robbin Ruiter – following an unlikely assist from O’Connell.

It enabled United to stroll through the last half hour and, while no more goals arrived, the job had emphatically been done.

Sheffield United: Moore; Carter-Vickers, Stearman, O’Connell; Baldock, Basham, Lundstram, Stevens; Duffy (Carruthers 75); Donaldson (Lafferty 90), Clarke (Lavery 84). Unused substitutes: Thomas, Sharp, Wright, Blackman.

Sunderland: Ruiter; Browning, O’Shea, Wilson, Oviedo; Gibson; Matthews, Gooch (Asoro 67), McGeady, Honeyman (McManaman 79); Vaughan (Maja 79). Unused substitutes: Steele, Jones, Love, Embleton.

Referee: P Bankes (Merseyside).