Sheffield United v Chelsea Tips: Back Willian to continue fine form against Blades

Sheffield United United won three consecutive home games in the top flight for the first time since 1993 on Wednesday night. A late John Egan winner gave them the three points in a 1-0 win that kept their hope of European football alive with them sitting seventh in the table with just four games remaining.

The Blades welcome Chelsea to Bramall Lane on Saturday evening, with the visitors looking to cement their place in the Champions League qualification spots for next season. Frank Lampard’s side are now just 1/5 in the top 4 betting after they managed a 3-2 victory away at Crystal Palace on Tuesday. 

Having a look at the prices for the match result, the majority of bookmakers are going 11/2 for a home win for the Steel City side - a price which does look very generous when you consider they’ve had wins at home in the league against Tottenham, Arsenal and Wolves this season as well as a point against Manchester United. The draw can be backed at 3/1 with bet365, while an away win for Chelsea is currently a top price of 6/10 from Betfair.

N’Golo Kante is a major doubt for the visitors with a hamstring injury he picked up in last weekend's game against Watford. Fikayo Tomori will also miss out for the Blues with Lampard poised to make changes at the back after a poor defensive showing against Crystal Palace. John Fleck and Luke Freeman remain sidelined for Sheffield United although manager Chris Wilder has said that there may be a return for David McGoldrick after he missed Wednesday’s game against Wolves.

The first of my three betting tips for this one is Willian to have two or more shots on target, priced at 21/10 with Betfair. Since the resumption of the Premier League, Willian has been one of the stand out players. He’s scored four goals and provided two assists and at the time of writing he’s had the joint-most goal involvements of any player in the league (6).

This bet has landed in his last three matches for him to have two or more shots on target. In total from his five league games since the restart the Brazilian has managed 16 shots, with ten of those hitting the target. He now seems to be the first choice penalty taker when Jorginho isn’t on the pitch and this can only strengthen our way in here. He’s a player who’s in red-hot form at the moment and I just can’t keep away from him for this one.

After John Egan’s goal against Burnley last week, his manager Chris WIlder was quoted saying “He should have had about ten this season”. And it seems Egan was listening as he then followed up with another goal, this time the winner against Wolves in the 90th minute on Wednesday. 

I’m backing the 27-year-old to have a shot on target here at the boosted price of 15/2, in what looks to be the value selection in the shots market. Across Egan’s six league games since the restart he has taken six shots and, with Betfair giving this an implied chance of just 12% to happen, I think it’s a nice bit of value. 

Onto the longshot for this game and at 50/1 I’ve gone for Pulisic and McBurnie to have one or more shots on target, with Enda Stevens and Kurt Zouma to be carded with PaddyPower. I previewed the Sheffield United v Wolves game on Wednesday and had McBurnie to have one shot target in my longshot. He landed one on target in that game and I feel he is more of a threat at times than McGoldrick who tends to drop a little deeper. There are question marks surrounding team news here and if McBurnie were to not start I would be replacing him with Lys Mousset who is also the same price.

Next up I’ve opted for Christian Pulisic to have a shot on target. He’s been a delight to watch over the last few games and is a young man who is in serious form. You’ll be pleased to hear that Pulisic has landed a shot on target in all five of his Premier League appearances since the restart with one of those even coming as a substitute. Again if he starts, I have no qualms about throwing him into this 50/1 Same Game Multi.

Onto the bookings and a nice angle in here on Enda Stevens to be carded. Against Wolves both Stevens (LWB) and O’Connell (LCB) were booked for the Blades, with the former hacking down Adama Traore. Wilder had clearly told his side he wanted two or three players on Adama at all times and to rough him up with some strong challenges. The tactic worked and Traore proved ineffective throughout the game. I see Wilder going for the complete same approach here with Willian. The Brazilian normally starts on the right of the front three and with Stevens playing wing-back I’m hoping he can pick up his second booking in four days.

Finally I’m rounding this one off with Kurt Zouma to be carded. As I touched on above, I think Lampard could make changes here after defensive frailties were exposed against West Ham and Crystal Palace. Zouma, however, is one I expect to keep his place and no other defender has been booked more times than he has for the Blues this season. He makes bold challenges at times and I’m taking a chance here with him being priced at 7/2 for the single. All in all I think at 50/1 this looks a nice play for little and it’ll be Whigfield all weekend not just Saturday night if this one lands. 

As always enjoy the game, just four rounds of matches left in the most bizarre Premier League season of all-time! Please remember to gamble responsibly.