Sheffield United vs Watford – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United host Javi Gracia’s Watford on Saturday afternoon as we head out of the international break.

The Blades left Hull empty-handed last time out in bitterly disappointing fashion. Hull City took the lead in the first-half via a wicked deflection, and in the latter stages of the game United had a chance to equalise from the penalty spot. Perhaps symbolic of their season so far, the penalty from Harrison Burrows was weak and telegraphed.

Watford meanwhile head to Bramall Lane having picked up seven points in their last three games having scored two goals in all of them. Their early season form has been inconsistent and they sit just three points behind the play-offs despite sacking Paulo Pezzolano and bringing Gracia back to the Hornets.

Transfer Business

Watford’s transfer business was quite a typical window for them as a football club; some good, some bad, and it can never be a Watford transfer window without deals involving Udinese, can it?

Nampalys Mendy is a solid player at Championship level, joining from RC Lens. He is the tempo setter in midfield from an off-the-ball point of view. Even at the age of 33, his game still relies on covering ground and making ball recoveries, allowing more creative midfielders to do their job.

The one player that I was excited to see this season was Nestory Irankunda, signing from the Bayern Munich reserves. The 19-year-old Australian forward came to the Championship with a reputation of being a game-changer, especially with his free-kick qualities. And he’s already delivered two free-kick goals in just seven Championship starts, and he has an assist to his name.

Perhaps the best piece of business Watford did in the summer was keeping Imran Louza and Giorgi Chakvetadze. Although the latter is injured, both men are in the conversation for being up there with the best players in the league.

Team News

Chris Wilder has had the opportunity to build fitness into many of his players over the past couple of weeks during the break from club football. Players such as Danny Ings and Tom Davies will have benefited from this. The Blades also got to see Jamie Shackleton return to action for the development team having been out for several months. Oliver Arblaster and Tahith Chong continue to recover from their knee injuries.

Javi Gracia could be without Pierre Dwomoh and key midfielder Giorgi Chakvetadze. The Georgian has been a huge miss to start the season and they will want him back as soon as possible to help push for a play-off place.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

Tyrese Campbell scores the opening goal for Sheffield United against Southampton at Bramall Lane. (Image Credit: Sheffield United Football Club).

If you blindly looked at the stats from Tyrese Campbell’s season so far compared to last term, you wouldn’t believe it was the same player. And the eye test is backing that up. He is isolated up top on his own, and while he was largely up front by himself last campaign, he still had the likes of Rhian Brewster (who sometimes occupied the shadow striker role) and Kieffer Moore (acting as a target man) to play off of. Both of those players departed the club in the summer, and neither were replaced.

This issue will now need to be solved in-house, and I’m just not sure they have the personnel to do that. However, one solution could be to give Danny Ings a start alongside Campbell. Ings, who looked sharp in the few minutes he’s had in a Blades shirt, has the experience and sharpshooting abilities which could work very well with Campbell. Both men like to make darting runs beyond a defence, but, equally, they are both capable of receiving the ball to feet, turning the corner and their man and then firing a shot off from anywhere in and around the 18-yard box.

Last season, Campbell was averaging six touches in the opposition penalty area and almost seven progressive passes received (97th percentile and 91st percentile). This term that’s down to averaging four touches in the opposition penalty area and 3.5 progressive passes received (56th percentile and 21st percentile). That is an enormous drop-off.

United need to get Campbell more support or else it’s really no use in the defence improving as the opposition will continue to not fear United’s attack, thus sending more bodies forward to pin back the Blades’ shape.

Watford’s Impact Player For This Game

WATFORD, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Imran Louza of Watford celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Hull City at Vicarage Road on September 27, 2025 in Watford, England. (Photo by Jasper Wax/Getty Images)

Moroccan midfielder Imran Louza has often been Watford’s standout performer, dictating tempo and offering creativity and the ability to split the lines. His ability to exploit space and thread passes through compact defences will be a major threat to a Sheffield United defence that looks very fragile, particularly if the Blades allow him time on the ball.

One of the main reasons United have lost all but one game they’ve played this season is due to the midfield area; the Blades look weak in duels and lack ideas and penetration on the ball. They’ve been overrun by every team they’ve faced, and even arguably in their sole win of the campaign away at Oxford United.

This does not make for good reading when you’re coming up against one of the best midfielders in the Championship in Louza, who already has two goals and two assists to his name in just six appearances.

The 26-year-old averages over eight progressive passes per game and over two progressive carries (ranking him in the 95th and 98th percentile respectively when compared to the rest of the Championship midfielders). He’s not just a progressor in this team, he is also Watford’s chief creator, registering almost three key passes per game and over 0.3 expected assists (99th percentile for both). Lastly, his shot-creating actions say it all; he’s averaged almost six shot-creating actions per game (again ranking in the 99th percentile). But what I like about Louza is he’s not one-dimensional. He can slice open defences with passes, he can take someone on, and he can hurt teams from dead-ball situations.

My Prediction

Watford head into this game against the Blades in quite a similar situation to what Southampton were a few weeks ago; they are one of the best creators in the league, registering 12.75 non-penalty expected goals, however, their conversion rate is subpar: 8.4%. Defensively, though, they are average Championship quality: 9.70 non-penalty expected goals given up puts them 9th-best, whilst they’re allowing their opponents a 9.8% conversion rate putting them 11th.

The Blades are in the bottom six in the division for non-penalty expected goals (8.95) and they’re dead-last in conversion rate (3%). Defensively, they’ve given up 11.4 non-penalty expected goals, while allowing a 13.5% conversion rate, only Birmingham City is allowing worse (14.2%).

But, with all of this in mind, Saturday afternoon will be Javi Gracia’s first game in charge of Watford in his second spell at the club.

Sheffield United can’t really afford to lose anymore home games from now until Christmas, or else the panic will really start to set in amongst the fan base, if it hasn’t already. With the form that Imran Louza has been in over the last few weeks, coupled with how miserable United have been in midfield, it’s tough to see how the Blades can stop the Moroccan.

I’m going for a 2-1 win to either team, though I am leaning more towards Watford.

Stats taken from FBref and Opta.