Sheffield United – Derby, English Division 1
2004-03-23 20.45 CET
Pick: Sheffield United
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,62
Final reason for bet
· Sheffield United seems to be back in form with 3 wins from the four latest games.
· Derby is a very bad away team.
· Derby has to make changes to their winning line up from last game.
General comment about the game
A promotion chasing Sheffield United welcomes Derby to this Tuesday evening game. Sheffield stays on the third place in the league, eight points behind both Norwich and West Bromwich. Sheffield has been a fairly good home team this year with ten wins from eighteen tries. However since mid December until late February things did not work out perfectly and they played five home games in a row without managing to win. In the recent rounds Sheffield has been more successful and they now have three wins and one draw in the last four games. Two of the wins came at home to strong opponent Millwall and less good side Bradford as Sheffield played last weekend, a game ending 2-0 to Sheffield. The game was not beautiful since the hard wind made it hard to make any good play. However two second half goals during a couple of minutes saw Sheffield earn the three points. To this game midfielder Stuart McCall (29 apps, 2 goals) is doubtful. Striker Ashley Ward (20(3) apps, 4 goals) is again out with injury while midfielder Izale McLeod (0(3) apps, 0 goals) is not aloud to play against his former club. On the positive side is that new signing, defender Simon Francis who has made 31 appearances for Bradford this season, is available.
Derby has been a strange team during 2004. At home they have managed five wins and two draws from seven played games, but on the road they have not grabbed a single point from five games. Last game Derby played struggling Nottingham Forest at home, and being up 3-1 already at half time, they finally won 4-2 in a convincing manner although Nottingham came back to 3-2 with 23 minutes left to go. Their new striker Paul Peschiolido (3 apps, 4 goas) who signed from Sheffield U some rounds ago, made two of the goals. In the Sheffield game Paul is not aloud to play since Sheffield made a deal that prevents him from playing against them during the rest of this season. Newly signed defender Jeff Kenna (3 apps) who has played for Birmingham earlier this season, is likely to miss with a back injury, while fellow defender Richard Jackson (29(2) apps, 0 goals) is likely to miss with a shoulder injury. Out is definitely German forward Marco Reich (7(1) apps, 0 goals) while defender Jamie Vincent (5 apps, 1 goal) is rated doubtful. These players are also quite fresh signings, Reich came from Bremen in January and Vincent came from Walsall in January. On the positive side is that defender Robert Edwards (8 apps, 1 goal) who signed from Crystal Palace in December is back after being out with injury during March, and Spanish forward Manel (6(2) apps, 1 goal) who is back from suspension. This means that compared with the Nottingham game at least three of the players in the starting line up will be changed, two defenders and one forward.
We believe that Derby will have a hard time when going to face such a strong side as Sheffield United. There are many defenders missing through injuries in Derby and with their recent best striker unavailable, we believe Sheffield will manage their fourth win in five games. However since Derby has been good at home this year and therefore has proved that they can be a strong team and also that they beat Sheffield with 2-0 on the Boxing day encounter, we go easy here, and do not risk a higher stake than 3%.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-03-20 |
Sheffield U-Bradford |
2-0 |
|
2004-03-16 |
Rotherham-Sheffield U |
1-1 |
|
2004-03-13 |
Watford-Sheffield U |
0-2 |
|
2004-03-02 |
Sheffield U-Millwall |
2-1 |
|
2004-02-28 |
Reading-Sheffield U |
2-1 |
Recent games for away team
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2004-03-20 |
Derby-Nottingham |
4-2 |
|
2004-03-16 |
Watford-Derby |
2-1 |
|
2004-03-13 |
Derby-Rotherham |
1-0 |
|
2004-03-03 |
Derby-Crewe |
0-0 |
|
2004-02-28 |
Coventry-Derby |
2-0 |
Home table
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Sheffield U |
18 |
10 |
4 |
4 |
32-19 |
34 |
Away table
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Derby |
18 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
12-29 |
12 |
Links for this game
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Derby: |
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// SportsObserver 040323
