Sheffield United vs Stoke City – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United are looking to continue their momentum when they host Stoke City on Saturday afternoon at Bramall Lane.

The Blades, unbeaten in their last four games and keeping three clean sheets, have won three straight games. In each of those three wins, they’ve found the back of the net three times, with their most recent win coming away at Leicester City. And as a result, United are now out of the relegation zone.

Stoke, meanwhile, have not enjoyed their time of late. Whilst they still sit fourth in the table, they have lost three of their last four games. Perhaps more worryingly for Saturday, they have won just twice as visitors since the opening month of the season, with two draws and three defeats. In addition, the Potters have lost their last three meetings with United.

Team News

The Blades are looking much healthier on the injury front. Tahith Chong made the bench in last weekend’s win at Leicester, but Oliver Arblaster remains out of the matchday squad as he continues to step up his training. Tom Davies and Chiedozie Ogbene are still being monitored with their soft tissue injuries.

Stoke could once again be without key midfielder Lewis Baker who has missed the last few games due to injury.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

For all the good attacking work and promise the Blades have shown recently, a large part of their resurgence is because of the vastly improved structure of the team on and off the ball in midfield. And that has something to do with Jairo Riedewald.

Operating as the left-sided midfielder in a double pivot, Riedewald has brought a balance the team has lacked for much of the season. With him being naturally left footed, it smooths out United’s build-up play, but it’s his defensive discipline that has elevated the team’s entire structure.

By sitting deeper in certain situations, sweeping up danger, he has allowed Sydie Peck the freedom to push forward and influence games in the way he did during last season’s breakout campaign. Peck’s recent surge in confidence and output is no coincidence and it mirrors the form he displayed when partnered with the defensively assured Vinícius Souza last term.

Riedewald’s experience and perfect reading of the game has contributed to how the Blades defend from the front. It’s easy to work on and outline pressing triggers in training, but to actually go and replicate that in a game is a skill in itself. And Riedewald helps with this, sometimes just through communication alone, and other times in actions, as we saw for the opening goal in the 3-0 Steel City derby win.

While the minutes are still limited, Riedewald’s FBref metrics paint a clear and compelling picture of his impact. Across just 455 Championship minutes, he ranks among the league’s best midfield disruptors: 99th percentile for blocks, 94th percentile for clearances, 74th percentile for interceptions.

These numbers underline his reading of the game, his anticipation, and his willingness to step into danger and snuff it out. He’s also unafraid of engaging dribblers in space and putting pressure on them to potentially force heavy touches and crowding them out with a teammate, ranking in 84th percentile for dribbles tackled per 90. And this is something the Blades will need to lean on to combat the skillful Million Manhoef, and the technician Sorba Thomas.

Stoke City’s Impact Player For This Game

STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 29: Sorba Thomas of Stoke City celebrates after scoring their first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Stoke City and Hull City at Bet365 Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

While Stoke may have regressed slightly in the form table, they are still sitting in the top six. And one of the main reasons for that is 26-year-old Sorba Thomas. The Welsh winger has contributed to 12 of Stoke’s 26 league goals so far (seven goals, five assists).

If you look at his numbers, it’s clear to see why he’s had such a big impact this campaign. Thomas has always had great delivery from open play and dead-ball situations, so it’s no surprise to see him rank highly among Championship wingers and attacking midfielders for crosses into the penalty area (80th percentile). This largely contributes to his key passing stats which sees him average over two key passes per 90 (81st percentile).

When this Stoke team are in the mood they can be a really difficult attack to stop. They have players with the technique and an eye for a pass such as Thomas, they have shifty skillful players like Million Manhoef. And then add a speedster like Divin Mubama to the mix that can run the channels and stretch the pitch, it’s easy to see why they started the season like a house on fire.

And it’s the potential combination of Thomas to Mubama that could cause United’s back line the most problems. Thomas averages almost eight long pass attempts per 90 (94th percentile), and if they could get Mubama in a foot race with Ben Mee in behind, that could prove costly.

My Prediction

The Stoke City side that head to Bramall Lane this weekend are a mysterious outfit as far as I’m concerned. They have some players that can produce great moments, but they are far too inconsistent collectively, which I guess is summed up by the fact they are performing at mid-table levels for non-penalty expected goals (21), but overperforming in terms of non-penalty goals vs non-penalty xG (4.7). Whilst that may seem good, this essentially means they’re scoring chances you don’t expect them to score, which cannot continue.

On the flip side, I’d rather be where United are in those metrics. They are at 24 non-penalty expected goals (top ten in the league), but they are underperforming in non-penalty goals vs non-penalty xG (-5), which means sooner or later they will correct this and start taking their chances more frequently. And we’ve seen that in the last three games.

The actual league table sees the Blades in 19th as of writing, and Stoke in 4th. But the Opta expected league table (which uses performance metrics to measure results) has United 8th and the Potters in 12th.

Looking at each of their last four games, it does seem like a correction is starting to happen for both these sides (Blades beginning to ascend, while Stoke starting to come back down to earth). I think that trend will continue here. Sheffield United take all three points in this one with a two-goal margin.

Stats taken from FBref and Opta.