Sheffield United vs Southampton – Preview | OneFootball

After getting their first win of the season last weekend, Sheffield United have a chance to build up some momentum when they host Southampton on Tuesday night.

The Blades managed to see out a 1-0 lead away at Oxford United, though the U’s did threaten in the dying moments as they smacked the foot of the post from close range.

Southampton, meanwhile, head into this match after drawing 1-1 at home against top of the league Middlesbrough. The Saints have not had the start to the season that many were anticipating; they currently have just seven points on the board and sit two points above the drop zone.

Transfer Business

After seeing some huge talents leave the club this summer in Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes, Southampton chose to invest some of that money in proven top quality Championship players in the form of Tom Fellows and Finn Azaz.

Fellows, 22, has been a standout player for a couple of years for West Bromwich Albion, particularly last term where he found the back of the net four times and served up 14 assists. And while he has not yet registered a goal contribution for the Saints, he still offers a big threat. He operates down the right and can swing a cross in with either foot, likewise he isn’t scared of shooting with either foot, thus making it difficult for the full-back to defend as he likes to drive down the outside just as much as he likes to cut inside.

Azaz, 25, is another player like Fellows that has looked exceptional over the last few years. In his debut campaign for Boro, the Irish attacking midfielder registered a whopping 11 goals and 10 assists in the 2023/24 season. Last term, he somehow managed to improve on those numbers by netting 12 goals and assisting 11 times. Again, he is still searching for his first goal contribution, and I’m sure they will start flooding in sooner rather than later.

Team News

Chris Wilder admitted that Tom Davies and Danny Ings will be involved on Tuesday evening during his pre-match press conference. However, the Blades will be without Tahith Chong who is set to have a scan on his knee after the versatile midfielder’s knee locked up in the warm-up away at Oxford.

Southampton don’t have many injuries to contend with other than Brazilian left-back Wellington, who will likely miss the trip to Bramall Lane for Will Still’s men due to an ankle injury.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

Gustavo Hamer in action for Sheffield United against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. (Image Credit: Sheffield United Football Club).

Coming into this game I feel like this is just as important as last weekend’s match, purely because the result and performance against a talented Southampton team will tell us much more about Wilder’s 3.0 Blades than a nervy tight win against Oxford United.

And it’s in these types of games where you want/need your big players to step up and make the difference. It’s early days, but we’re yet to see a sustained impact from last season’s Championship Player of The Season Gustavo Hamer.

He is yet to register a goal contribution this term. That being said, he produced a wonderful pass at the weekend when he slipped a ball through an onrushing defender’s legs into the path of Tyrese Campbell who couldn’t direct his swivelled shot on goal.

It’s certainly not the case of Hamer’s volume suddenly decreasing; he is averaging over 60 touches per game so far, and he has an expected assists of 1.7, which suggests he’s still creating chances but they aren’t being scored – which is obviously why the Blades only have two goals to their name.

Last weekend we saw Hamer pick up the ball in all sorts of areas in United’s new shape, and he’ll need to continue his smart movement in the middle and final third against a Saints midfield that’s packed with quality.

The Dutchman has created the second-most amount of chances for the Blades so far: 10 (behind Harrison Burrows: 15). It’s also interesting to note that both Hamer and Burrows are in the top five players of the Championship in terms of successful passes in the final third: Burrows 101, Hamer 99. This is kind of a meaningless stat depending on how you interpret it. But the reason I’m taking notice of it in this game is because there could be an opportunity for Burrows and Hamer to link up down the left and exploit Ronnie Edwards, who has been playing as right-back at times this season.

Southampton’s Impact Player For This Game

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 23: Adam Armstrong of Southampton in action during the Carabao Cup Third Round match between Liverpool and Southampton at Anfield on September 23, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Adam Armstrong is a player that I like to describe as someone that’s too good for the Championship when he’s fit, but perhaps one that isn’t quite good enough for the Premier League. The last time he was in the Championship in the 2023/24 season he scored 24 goals and made 13 assists. He already has a couple of goals to his name in seven games.

Armstrong pops up in various areas of the pitch to try and exploit defences with his pace and agility, and this is something the Blades must be wary of on Tuesday night. If the Blades are going to continue with the back three of Japhet Tanganga, Mark McGuinness and Ben Mee, then we could see the Southampton striker drifting towards the right channel in hope of using his speed against Mee.

The 28-year-old is an instinctive finisher, one that can shoot with either foot, and score all types of goals. He has made a living from making smart and quick darting runs in behind defences and then having the composure to finish into the corners. This is something McGuinness will have to be wary of because while the towering centre-back is excellent in aerial duels, he does struggle for both pace and agility, so his positioning and anticipation will need to be superb if he does indeed come up against Armstrong.

My Prediction

On paper, this is a matchup between a team at the bottom of the league versus 19th place. However, the league table at this stage does lie, as I specifically pointed out last season numerous times with Coventry City, who were in the bottom quarter of the table for most of the opening couple of months into the season, but their expected position was inside the top six.

This is basically the exact same situation that Southampton find themselves in. They sit 19th, but their expected league position has them in third. This to me is much more of a positive than it is a negative; if this trend in performances continues then the results will come. Will Still is one of the best young managers in Europe, and his Saints side being only a few points above the drop zone certainly does not change that.

Southampton have recorded over 12 non-penalty expected goals so far, which is the second-highest in the Championship, and it’s double what United have managed. Despite this, there is just 0.08 difference between the two sides in terms of goals vs xG (Southampton worst in the league, the Blades being second-worst). Essentially, both teams are performing poorly in front of goal, whether that’s due to poor shot quality or coming up against outstanding goalkeeping performances.

On the flip side, defensively, the Blades have been poor in terms of giving up good quality chances to their opponents, though they come into this one off the back of a win and a clean sheet. The Saints are performing around the league average in this metric, giving up eight xG. But they’re allowing their opponents to have a conversion rate over 12%, which puts them in the bottom six of this metric along with United. And this is really why they are down at the bottom end of the league table.

One metric nobody can quantify is confidence. Will the Blades put in a much-improved performance after getting their first win against Oxford? I’m not so sure.

I can’t see Sheffield United getting anything out of this one unfortunately. I’m predicting Southampton to win by a couple of goals in a 3-1 Blades defeat.

Stats taken from Opta and FBref.