Sheffield United vs Charlton Athletic – Preview | OneFootball

With Chris Wilder back in charge at Sheffield United for a third spell, his first game back in the dugout will be against newly promoted Charlton Athletic at Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon.

The Blades have lost every game this season and head into this one off the back of a 5-0 thrashing at Ipswich Town. However, there is hope that the return of Wilder will effectively wipe the slate clean and allow the squad to mentally reset.

Charlton come into Saturday’s game after back-to-back London derbies. After originally leading Queens Park Rangers, they would surrender the lead and eventually collapse in the final 15 minutes to lose 3-1. Nathan Jones’ men also had the lead at home against Millwall before an 88th minute equaliser ensured a share of the spoils.

Transfer Business

Charlton Athletic’s summer transfer window was decent on paper. They improved their team at several levels, bringing in experienced Championship campaigners such as: Thomas Kaminski (goalkeeper), James Bree (right-back), Joe Rankin Costello (right-back), Amari’i Bell (left-back and centre-back), and they also signed some players that are easily capable of stepping up to this level in Harvey Knibbs (attacking midfielder) and Charlie Kelman (striker).

Not only are most of these names experienced, they are at worst above average Championship quality players. A few of these names were with Nathan Jones during his days at Luton Town, and even outside of those names, this Charlton Athletic side does feel a little bit like the team that Jones had during his successful spell at Luton; they thrive on being energetic across the field and will try to win the second and third phases.

Team News

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – MARCH 28: Chris Wilder, manager of Sheffield United, look on before the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United FC and Coventry City FC at Bramall Lane on March 28, 2025 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Last season, Chris Wilder largely had to contend with Oliver Arblaster, Tom Davies and Jamie Shackleton being unavailable for selection; that hasn’t changed much. Though Ruben Selles did state during his final press conference preview that Davies would be joining back up with the first-team this week to undergo full training.

Charlton’s main injury focus is proven Championship striker Matt Godden. The former Coventry man found game time hard to come by over the last couple of years with the Sky Blues, thus prompting a move to the capital last summer. The move certainly paid off as Godden netted 18 goals in 29 starts (12 substitute appearances).

He did this whilst playing through the pain barrier with his knee, something Jones admitted to the media this summer. And as a result, he underwent knee surgery and is steadily making a recovery.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 01: Tyrese Campbell of Sheffield United celebrates scoring his teams second goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Queens Park Rangers FC and Sheffield United FC at Loftus Road on March 01, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

There were a handful of real standout players for the Blades last season, two of those left over the summer (Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vinicius Souza), but others have remained: Michael Cooper, Gustavo Hamer and Tyrese Campbell. Those three players largely contributed to United’s excellent points tally; Cooper solely prevented over five goals from being conceded, Hamer had 18 goal contributions, and Tyrese Campbell was one of the most clinical strikers outside of the Premier League last term, even compared to those around Europe.

Wilder needs to get a tune out of this trio again, but the spotlight focuses on the latter of these three.

It was quite evident to me that Campbell did not enjoy the style of play under Ruben Selles; he rarely had the ball fired into his feet or chest, he rarely had balls to run onto, and a lot of his role under Selles off the ball was to screen a pass into the central midfield area, then once that avenue was blocked, he’d be instructed to chase down the man on the ball and filter out towards the full-back if they received it.

In terms of goalscoring, Campbell has only registered an expected goals of 0.78 so far (essentially a penalty-kick), and he has one goal to his name. This obviously must improve or else United’s results won’t. The 25-year-old is athletically gifted and has really good technical skills to go with it, so it’s not as if he doesn’t have the attributes.

But, the question is: how much of Campbell’s performances in front of goal last season (10 goals in 20 starts) was down to the excellent striker coach Jack Lester? We shall soon find out.

Charlton Athletic’s Impact Player For This Game

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 25: Ethan Galbraith of Leyton Orient battles for possession with Tyreece Campbell of Charlton Athletic during the Sky Bet League One Play Off Final match between Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient at Wembley Stadium on May 25, 2025 in London, England. This weekend’s EFL play-off matches at Wembley will all kick-off one minute late, to raise awareness for the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign, which aims to encourage people to learn CPR. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Charlton Athletic have their own Campbell that can impact this game, and that man is Tyreece Campbell. Charlton’s Campbell is a quick wide player who can play on both sides if needed. But so far this term, he has mostly occupied a left-winger role, and he has an assist to his name, already matching his assist tally from last season.

The 22-year-old is averaging 1.7 chances created per game, which ranks him near the very top of the division for players that have played a minimum of 350 minutes. The Addicks’ Campbell is the second-best performer in the entire league when it comes to progressive carries that end in a chance. Given what we saw last Friday evening when Jaden Philogene went up against Ben Godfrey and ghosted past him at will, this looks like a very good avenue for Charlton on Saturday.

Additionally, Campbell is averaging over two crosses per game, which doesn’t sound a lot, but it is an aspect of the game that is becoming less and less common nowadays. Not where Charlton are concerned however; Rob Apter is averaging over six crosses per game (fourth-most in the league), Josh Edwards is averaging over three, and Conor Coventry is averaging 2.5 – Jones is clearly instructing his players to drive on the outside and whip the ball into the box at every possible opportunity.

With Campbell possibly coming up against Godfrey, who put in one of the most shocking individual  performances I’ve seen from any player in recent years, the Londoners will be fancying their chances against a very leaky Blades back line.

My Prediction

While Charlton Athletic may only be 18th in the league table, their performances suggest they should be much higher up the table in 7th place according to Opta’s expected points table.

Jones’ side have been very solid at the back, giving up just 0.88 non-penalty xG per game compared to United’s 1.57. However, they have been equally as poor as the Blades at creating chances – United have averaged an xG of 1.05 (Charlton only 0.01 better than that).

Under Selles, the Blades have performed the highest volume of pressures in the Championship, averaging almost 15 pressing sequences per game. Charlton are second in that category with just under 13 on average. This aspect will be a battle within the battle as these are two teams who love to hound the man on the ball.

This is a tough one to predict. But due to what the occasion represents – Chris Wilder’s return to the dugout at Bramall Lane – I’m siding with Sheffield United to get their first points of the campaign in a 2-1 victory, purely because of the atmosphere and energy that will be in the ground, and United having the better personnel at the top end of the pitch.

Stats taken from Opta.