Eddie Howe has been speaking about Sheffield United ahead of this weekend’s clash with Newcastle at Bramall Lane.
The Newcastle boss has guided them back to Champions League football and they picked up a hard-earned 0-0 draw in Milan this week.
And speaking ahead of the clash with United this weekend, Howe has picked out some elements of threat the Blades will bring to the table.
Eddie Howe highlights Sheffield United set-piece threat ahead of Newcastle clash
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the clash, Howe was full of praise for the Blades.
And when talking about the problems United could cause his team, Howe highlighted United as being ‘very strong’ from set-pieces.
“(We’re expecting) a difficult game. I think Bramall Lane is a very tough place to go, anytime of the year. They’re a good team, a direct team who will ask us questions physically. They’ve got good athleticism in their team, counter-attacking, and they’re very strong from set plays,” Howe said.
“They’ve got lots of areas to their team that can hurt us if we’re not right so I think the big challenge for us is to mentally approach the game as we did the Brentford match where we were spot on in our mindset and importance of the game, responding really well with maybe not a magnificent display but doing enough to get the job done.
“We’re going to have to get all the basics right if we’re going to compete in this game.”
The Blades ran out 1-0 winners the last time the two clubs met at Bramall Lane back in 2021.
Sheffield United News View: A win would be huge
On paper, this Newcastle side should comfortably beat Sheffield United. But as we all know, football is not played on paper.
The Blades have been unlucky this season at times but as time ticks on, that need to register the first win of the season grows. Playing Newcastle at home is the ideal chance for us to try and register three big points.
Howe is right, we are a threat on set-pieces and have good physicality to us. The loss of McBurnie is massive though and it could well mean United need to find another way to see off the Magpies.