Sheffield United facing big Gus Hamer worry v West Brom & Norwich City | OneFootball

Sheffield United's Gus Hamer will serve a two-game suspension if he is booked in either of their upcoming games against West Brom and Norwich.

Sheffield United kept their faint hopes of reaching the play-offs alive with an impressive 2-0 win at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, but one individual in particular is hanging onto his chances of playing by a thread.

When Chris Wilder returned to Bramall Lane for a third time earlier this season, the only focus was getting the Blades out of the relegation zone, as he inherited a team that were sitting bottom of the table.

However, the boyhood fan has got a tune out of the players, and Sheffield United are now looking up, knowing relegation to League One is not going to happen.

Gus Hamer facing potential suspension after picking up his ninth booking at QPR

Realistically, the Yorkshire outfit will not be able to drop many more points if they are to make the top six, as they currently trail Wrexham, who occupy the final play-off spot, by nine points.

Yet, given the quality Sheffield United boast, they will no doubt feel they are capable of going on the sort of run that could put them in the mix, and it’s worth noting that they still have to play the Welsh side at home.

Wilder will want a fully-fit squad for the run-in, but he is facing a potential dilemma over the influential Gus Hamer, as he picked up his ninth booking of the campaign against the R’s last time out.

The Sheffield Star has explained that if the attacking midfielder picks up a yellow in either of the next two games against West Brom or Norwich, it will bring an automatic two-game ban.

If Hamer can get past the fixture against the Canaries, which is the 37th of the season, the threshold increases to 15 bookings before you are suspended - something he is unlikely to hit unless he becomes ridiculously ill-disciplined.

So, Wilder will want to manage Hamer carefully, as losing him for two games would be a massive blow, and it would dent their chances of making a late push for the play-offs.

Chris Wilder knows the importance of Gus Hamer to Sheffield United

Even though he hasn’t hit the heights of last season, where he was named Player of the Year in the entire Championship, Hamer remains a huge player for the Blades.

Of course, Wilder will be aware of that, and seven assists in his last eight games show the former Coventry man is in fine form.

Nevertheless, Sheffield United aren’t in a position where they can afford to rest players or look too far ahead.

They need to be targeting six points from the upcoming games, which are against a West Brom team scrapping to stay up, and a Norwich side that have been fantastic since Philippe Clement was appointed.

So, Wilder surely won’t be thinking about resting Hamer, as that would be very disrespectful, and he needs to get points on the board.

Obviously, if the Blades are winning comfortably, he will manage Hamer’s minutes, and there’s no doubt he will be reminding him that he needs to avoid picking up a silly yellow card.

Ultimately, though, Sheffield United need to win these games, and their best chance of doing that is having Hamer play in his normal way, and, if he does suffer a suspension, then the Blades will have to deal with it, as whilst he is a great player, there is a lot of quality in the ranks, so others would have to step up.