Burnley v Sheffield United: Cards fancied in low-scoring clash | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Burnley can win promotion with a win on Easter Monday

Promotion-chasing pair Burnley and Sheffield United cross swords in a titanic Championship tussle on Monday evening. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is backing a feisty fixture at Turf Moor...

Burnley v Sheffield UnitedMonday April 21, 17:30Live on Sky Sports

Burnley on the brink of promotion

Burnley boss Scott Parker was full of praise for his players after the Clarets came from a goal down to win 2-1 at nine-man Watford and take a big step towards sealing automatic promotion back to the Premier League on Good Friday. Strikes either side of half-time from Zian Flemming and Josh Brownhill saw Burnley recover after the hosts took an early lead.

Parker's posse equalled the club's record unbeaten league run of 30 games following the Vicarage Road success and are now only goal difference away from leading the line. Burnley can also rubber-stamp their immediate top-flight return on Easter Monday evening if they are to beat third-placed Sheffield United in front of a capacity crowd at Turf Moor.

Parker said, "I'm delighted with the team. We came for three points and managed to walk away with them. They react constantly to adversity. They're reacting the right way. They find a way. Sometimes it's a mentality that can get you to that point [of winning a game]. It was brilliant today. We'll enjoy this. The next game is our biggest game of the season."

Sheff Utd get back on track

Sheffield United are "alive and kicking" according to chief Chris Wilder after the Blades managed to get back to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph over Cardiff on Good Friday. Three successive defeats saw United drop to third, though their latest success means a draw or more at Burnley here will keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.

Wilder said, "We had to take care of business from our point of view, a really emotionally draining week for everybody, and we managed to do that. We needed a performance. The performance was OK, and the result is a big result, which obviously which keeps us alive and kicking. We're back in this fight - we'll give it our all from here and see where it takes us."

Gustavo Hamer's instinctive first-half finish put Blades ahead, the Championship player-of-the-season contender poking home after Tyrese Campbell's shot deflected into his path. Brazilian Hamer also hit the woodwork with a free-kick as the Blades had the clearer sight of goal in a tense contest before Ben Brereton Diaz scored a decisive second late on.

Clarets well-fancied by the market

Burnley have enjoyed their recent meetings with Sheffield United, winning each of the last four renewals between the pair, as many victories as across their prior 15 clashes with the Blades (W4-D4-L7). The Clarets have also collected five wins in six unbeaten head-to-head encounters with United at Turf Moor dating back to April 2008 (W5-D1-L0).

Burnley 2.02 are unbeaten since early November (W19-D11-L0) in Championship action and have suffered only two league losses across the campaign. The Clarets are unbeaten at Turf Moor (W12-D9-L0) - leaking just six goals - with Scott Parker's outfit posting W2-D2-L0 when welcoming fellow top-six opposition, keeping a clean sheet in each of those outings.

Sheff Utd 4.70 are W12-D2-L7 since Christmas with Chris Wilder's side losing at basement battlers Plymouth and Oxford in their last two road trips. The Blades are W3-D2-L4 when facing-off against top-six teams with each loss arriving against top-four opponents; the visitors are W1-D2-L3 when travelling to the top-eight, leaking 2+ goals in on four occasions.

Oppose goals and support cards

No side in the Championship sees fewer goals per-game than Burnley with the Clarets contests producing just 1.70 goals per-game - a healthy 72% of those showdowns have produced Under 2.5 Goals, including 17 of 18 meetings with fellow top-11 opponents. A repeat therefore appeals here considering the magnitude of the match.

We can combine Under 2.5 Goals with Over 3.5 Cards at 2.21. David Webb has the whistle - the arbiter is only avergaing 2.74 cards per-game across his 21 league assignments this season, though the official did flash six cards in his last Championship outing and a similar haul could be in the offing with Premier League promotion on the line.

Recommended bets

Back Under 2.5 Goals and Over 3.5 Cards @ 2.19