Coventry City vs Sheffield United – Preview | OneFootball

League leaders Coventry City host 22nd-placed Sheffield United on Tuesday evening at the CBS Arena.

Coventry head into this game after losing for the first time this season, losing 3-2 at Wrexham last Friday night, with former Blade Kieffer Moore scoring a hat-trick. Despite this setback, they are still heavily feared in attack. Frank Lampard’s side have scored 36 goals already in the league; they’re the only team in the Championship to score 30+, and the next closest highest scorers Hull City are 14 goals behind the Sky Blues.

The Blades were comfortably beaten 3-1 at home against Derby County on Saturday afternoon. United have now conceded six goals in their last two matches, both against statistically poor attacks. So Tuesday night does not look good at all for Chris Wilder’s men.

Transfer Business

The impressive thing about this storming start to the campaign for Coventry is that they rarely added to the squad in the summer. Lampard brought in the likes of Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Luke Woolfenden to improve the depth on the defensive line, though both have rarely started.

The loan signing of Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Carl Rushworth is the only real standout addition they made. The promising 23-year-old has six clean sheets in his 13 games in the league thus far. It’s not just his shot-stopping ability that has made him a wanted man in the last few years; he has excellent distribution to help beat the opposition press, and he can launch quick counterattacks.

Team News

In spite of Coventry City’s excellent opening to the season, Lampard has had to navigate his way around injuries. United’s summer transfer target Bobby Thomas missed their trip to Wales on Friday, as did standout left-back Jay Dasilva.

In addition, exciting playmaker Jack Rudoni continues to be on the sidelines for the next few weeks. But, the home side could start Victor Torp after his recovery from a calf issue, and excellent right-back Milan van Ewijk should slot back into the team after serving a suspension for accumulation of cards.

Sheffield United handed Ryan Oné and Tom Davies a first substitute appearance in a while last weekend. Meanwhile, Oliver Arblaster has continued his trajectory of getting back to full fitness, with the young midfielder likely in line for minutes for the Sheffield United development team in the next couple of weeks.

Coventry City’s Impact Player For This Game

WREXHAM, WALES – OCTOBER 31: Ephron Mason-Clark of Coventry City celebrates scoring the opening goal with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto of Coventry City during the Sky Bet Championship match between Wrexham AFC and Coventry City at Racecourse Ground on October 31, 2025 in Wrexham, Wales. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

In this section, you could genuinely name about seven or eight Coventry players that could impact this game. The reality is, the Blades are on the ropes, and despite Wilder improving United offensively, they have barely improved from a defensive point of view.

Coventry have a clear pace advantage in this match, and they have a clear footballing ability advantage. I’m looking for the likes of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright to take full advantage of United’s weak and very slow rearguard. The attacking duo have something you just cannot teach in sports: freakish athleticism. On top of that, they are both very polished technically so they can link-up play, drift wide, beat a man and fire cutbacks into the box at will.

Between them, they have double the goal contributions (20) than Sheffield United’s total goals scored so far (10).

Coventry also possess one of the best deep playmakers from recent years in the Championship, Matt Grimes. During his time at Swansea City, many Blades supporters thought that the natural eventual replacement for Oliver Norwood would be Grimes due to the similarities in their playing style, though Grimes is better athletically it’s fair to say.

This season, Grimes is averaging over eight progressive passes per 90 (96th percentile), almost two key passes per 90 (95th percentile), over 0.2 expected assists per 90 (90th percentile), and 4.5 shot-creating actions per 90 (96th percentile). You just cannot get much better than that as a deep playmaker.

That’s the issue with defending this Coventry team. They have the pace to stretch opponents and they have the accuracy to find these runners. And even in a low block in congested space, the likes of Grimes, Torp, and Rudoni can play combinations and through balls in extremely tight areas, and they carry a long-shot threat from the edge of the box.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 01: Callum O’Hare of Sheffield United during the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United and Derby County at Bramall Lane on November 01, 2025 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Harriet Massey/Getty Images)

Callum O’Hare is really running away with the Player of the Season accolade as things stand. He seems to be the only player that wants to commit a defender, wants to show for the ball constantly, even when the team is facing an impossible situation.

His willingness, determination and work rate certainly makes up for his lack of speed, and that’s basically how he scored his goal against Derby County last Saturday.

While the Sky Blues have serious pace, there could be instances where the game turns into a bit of a basketball match, thus making the entire shape of both teams stretched. If that’s the case, the Blades could capitalise on the space in midfield, and O’Hare would be the man to do that. While he doesn’t have the burst of acceleration to do so, his non-stop running and agility could cause Coventry issues in these quick-attacking instances particularly if he advances towards the box let’s say up against Grimes.

My Prediction

In truth, I am clutching at straws with the United’s impact player section for this one. This may be the most negative-sounding preview I’ve ever written on The Sheff United Way, but it’s for a reason.

To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Coventry lead the league in non-penalty expected goals (28), and they lead the league in non-penalty goals vs non-penalty expected goals (7). The Blades have improved offensively since Wilder’s return, but defensively they are still the worst team in the Championship for non-penalty goals vs non-penalty expected goals (-5.55), and they’re allowing their opponents to have a 13% conversion rate. This is not what you want up against Coventry’s 15.8% non-penalty conversion rate.

United and Coventry are second and third respectively in forcing high turnovers in the Championship (104 – United, 99 – Coventry). So something has to give in that aspect, and judging by the previously listed metrics, it will go the way of the Sky Blues.

I’m expecting at the very least a two-goal defeat in this one. People may look at their defeat last Friday, but they were missing multiple key players which they will now have back for Tuesday night.

My final prediction is a 4-1 defeat as I don’t see any way where Sheffield United can compete with this Coventry City squad.

Stats taken from FBref and Opta.