A relegation six-pointer? This weekend’s Steel City derby is different
At 12pm on Sunday, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United will go to battle in the 134th competitive Steel City derby.This is one of the oldest and most fiercely-contested derbies in English football.
And even if there is nothing on the line in a league game, this fixture will never not be important. Bragging rights alone are priceless in Sheffield.
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Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder discusses what makes the Steel City derby with rivals Sheffield Wednesday so special
But this weekend’s derby has a different feel about it.Wednesday are bottom, with just one win from their first 15 and 17 points from safety, following a 12-point deduction for going into administration, which was imposed in October. United are in the relegation zone, too, with just 10 points to date.
Victory can and will be so important for either side – and you can see all the action as it unfolds live on Sky Sports Football from 11am on Sunday.
Sunday 23rd November 11:00am
Kick off 12:00pm
In the last five Steel City derbies…
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The tale of the tapeSheffield United have made their worst start to a season outside of the top tier in their history.Sheffield Wednesday have not won in last six derbies (D3 L3) – their worst run without a win in Steel City derbies in all competitions since eight without a win between October 1919 and May 1928.Sheffield Wednesday have also not scored in the last five derbies – their worst ever drought against the Blades. The last was scored by Lucas Joao in a 4-2 Championship defeat in September 2017.Sheffield United won both meetings last season 1-0, completing a league double in the Steel City derby for first time since 2005/06.Sheffield Wednesday have won one of their last 17 Championship games (D7 L9), including the end of last season.Sheffield United have lost 11 Championship games this season – more than any other team.The early relegation picture
Wednesday’s suffering off the pitch hinders them greatly on itLast season, in his first full campaign at Hillsborough, Danny Röhl guided Sheffield Wednesday to 12th, 10 points outside the play-offs. But the positivity of that was soon swept away by events unfolding off the pitch.
A three-month nightmare started in June when the EFL imposed a three-window fee restriction after exceeding 30 days of late payments between July 1 2024 and June 30 2025. It concluded on October 24 when the club filed for administration and received a 12-point deduction as a result.
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Hendrik Pedersen took over from Danny Röhl on July 31
“I think it’s a great day. It just gives the fans a bit more certainty in terms of direction,” said administrator Paul Stanley of Begbies Traynor – the firm which has taken control of the club – on that momentous day.Sheffield Wednesday have been through the ringer – and you can find a full timeline of events here.During that three-month period, Röhl left by mutual consent, with his assistant Henrik Pedersen appointed on a three-year deal on July 31. By then, he had lost two star players in Josh Windass and Michael Smith, whose contracts were ended by mutual consent a fortnight earlier. Wingers Anthony Musaba and Djeidi Gassama were sold, too.The only outfield players Pedersen has been able to sign to date are left-back Harry Amass on loan from Manchester United and centre-back Liam Cooper on a free transfer from CSKA Sofia. The latter only arrived on November 17.
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday
Results have, understandably – suffered. Wednesday have won just once and shipped 29 goals so far. They have spent the most amount of time losing in games this season in the second tier (801 mins) and the second-lowest amount of time winning (219 mins).But they have battled and Liam Palmer and Barry Bannan – with a whopping 943 appearances for the club between them – continue to lead by example. The latter has created the joint most chances in the Championship this season (33), the most successful crosses (34) and has played the most passes into the opposition box (150) of any player in the competition.
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Barry Bannan has created the joint most chances in the Championship this season
Younger players like Sean Fusire, Charlie McNeill, Gabriel Otegbayo and Ernie Weaver – to name just a few – are learning their trade on the job.The odds may be stacked overwhelmingly against them, but Sheffield Wednesday are showing admirable fight against adversity.Blades trying to get back on track after failed Selles experimentSheffield United earned 90 points last season – a tally that would have been enough to go up automatically in eight of the last 10 seasons – but missed out on automatic promotion as a result of Leeds and Burnley racking up 100 points each. In the play-off final, two late goals saw Sunderland pip them to a Premier League return.Chris Wilder was sacked on June 18 and replaced by Ruben Selles, who had not long been out of work himself, having been sacked by Hull on May 15.
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Chris Wilder outlines the reasons for his return to Sheffield United and says he would not have returned had it been any other club
“We want to be aggressive, we want to make things happen,” the Spaniard said after his appointment. “We are going to go and try and be as competitive as we can in every single game.” In reality, under Selles, the Blades lost their first five Championship matches, shipping 12 goals and scoring just one.He was sacked on September 14 – and Wilder returned for a third spell the following day. The return of one of their own boosted morale among Blades fans, but the fabled new manager bounce is yet to materialise and they have only taken 10 points from the 30 on offer since Wilder came back.
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers
They have 23 fewer than they had at this stage in 2024/25, which is the biggest drop of points after 15 games in consecutive English second tier seasons by any team in history.The goalscoring issues that plagued them in those miserable early weeks remain, too. Only two teams in the top four divisions have scored fewer than their 11 (Leeds 10, Wolves 7), meaning they have underperformed their xG by 9. They also have the lowest shot conversion rate in the Championship (5.9 per cent)The signing of Patrick Bamford – a free agent since he left Leeds by mutual consent on August 28 – is a direct attempt to remedy that. He is expected to play a part on Sunday.
In spite of Sheffield United’s current predicament, Wilder – who will take charge of his 200th Championship game on Sunday – is optimistic.”Just as much as when we were flying at the start of last season and in and around the top of the division, it wasn’t decided in November or December,” he said, speaking to Sky Sports News on Wednesday.”I’ve said all along, the defeats we’ve had so far have been self-inflicted so, from our point of view, cutting out those silly goals in the three games we lost (since he took charge), keeping clean sheets, making ourselves hard to beat, not giving teams a hand-out, which we certainly did in those three games.
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The Sky Sports Essential EFL podcast looks ahead to the Steel City derby.
“What happens in both boxes decides games and we have to be more clinical at the top of the pitch and make sure we’re more resolute and cutting out silly mistakes that are giving us a mountain to climb in terms of getting back into games and getting results.”Predict the score!
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How likely is it either will stay up?Even at this stage, one third of the way through the season, it looks nigh-on impossible for Sheffield Wednesday to avoid relegation.Opta’s supercomputer predicts they currently have a 97.7 per cent chance of relegation, with United boasting a wholly more favourable chance of 23.5 per cent.
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Looking at it from a points-per-game perspective, without factoring in their deduction, Wednesday have eight points from 15 games, which equates to an average of 0.53 points-per-game.Since the Championship rebrand in 2004/05, on average, the team finishing in 21st – and thus avoiding the drop – has accrued 48.24 points.Therefore, the Owls need to pick up 52 points from their final 31 games to even reach 48 – yet with their current average, they will finish on just 12, which would, in fact, set a new record low points tally. Rotherham set the current record with 23 in 2016/17.
Sky Bet’s relegation odds (as of 4pm on November 19)
Sheff Wed – n/a
Norwich – 6/5
Portsmouth 6/4
Sheff Utd – 10/3
Swansea – 13/2
Sheffield United are averaging a slightly better 0.67 points-per-game and have the relative luxury of no deduction to contend with, meaning they need 38 points from the final 31 to reach 48.Based on their current average, they too would fall well short of that figure, and finish with 31 points, which would be the joint-seventh lowest return in history.But football is not played on paper. There is so much football still to be played this season – and victory in this huge derby could spur either one of these Steel City rivals on to more.Watch Sheffield Wednesday vs Sheffield United live on Sky Sports Football from 11am on Sunday; kick-off 12pm.
Δημοσιεύτηκε: 2025-11-21 10:00:00
πηγή: www.skysports.com
