West Brom vs Sheffield United preview, team news, kick-off, prediction, live on Sky Sports

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of West Brom vs Sheff Utd in the Premier League on Saturday, live on Sky Sports (kick-off 8pm).

Team news

Slaven Bilic is sweating on the fitness of one of his players ahead of the visit of Sheffield United.

Jake Livermore and Kieran Gibbs contracted coronavirus earlier this month and, while Bilic refused to say who, one is still feeling unwell despite testing negative on Monday.

Sam Field has been battling a knee problem - having recovered from Covid-19 - and could be included in Saturday's squad.

The Blades, the only team below the Baggies in the table, look set to be boosted by the return of Lys Mousset.

The French forward, United's top scorer last season, has been out since suffering a rare toe injury in pre-season. He has resumed training ahead of schedule and may play a part at the Hawthorns, with the Blades still looking for their first win of the season.

Enda Stevens and one other player, who boss Chris Wilder declined to name, are injury concerns for the visitors.

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West Brom vs Sheffield United will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7.45pm on Saturday; kick-off at 8pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Free highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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At least 146 Premier League games will be shown live on Sky Sports in the 2020/21 season. The Premier League has further increased the number of televised games this season from 200 to 231, with over half of the extra fixtures set to be shown live on Sky Sports.

Overall, Sky Sports will be showing at least 146 Premier League matches live throughout the 2020/21 season, continuing to bring you all the latest twists, turns and shocks at the home of the Premier League.

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There will also be two additional midweek programmes - one will be played across the weeks commencing January 11 and 18 and the second will be in the week commencing May 10. All of these games will be broadcast live.

You can also follow the action with our dedicated live blogs on the Sky Sports website and app, and watch free match highlights from every game shortly after full-time on our digital platforms and YouTube channel.

Jones Knows prediction

If you are asking me who do I think will finish higher this season: West Brom or Sheffield United, then I would be placing all my chips down on Chris Wilder's men. He is a master of his trade and will find a way to get his squad winning games again.

However, the confidence issue within his squad really puts me off them this weekend, even if they are facing - statistically - the worst team in the division. Wilder's team are in the midst of a narrative that many relegation-threatened teams go though. A period of playing well and losing games completely dents the confidence within a squad, who then go on to play badly and lose games. That was in full show against West Ham.

• Revisited: The Battle of Bramall Lane

This could be the turning point. But, since promotion, the Blades have played 14 games without their first-choice defence and won just one of those fixtures. Jack O'Connell is still five months away from fitness, which is a big issue.

These sides are on the two longest winless runs in England's top four divisions - 12 for Sheff Utd, 13 for West Brom.

That winless run for both may continue.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

• This is the first ever Premier League meeting between West Brom and Sheffield United, the 885th different fixture to be played in the competition.
• Sheffield United won both meetings the last time they faced West Brom in a top-flight campaign, winning 2-0 away and 3-0 at home in the 1972-73 season.
• Sheffield United have won three of their last five away league games against West Brom (D1 L1), in a run stretching back to December 2001. The Blades have kept four clean sheets in those five games.
• Both West Brom and Sheffield United are winless in their nine Premier League games this season, with the Baggies only failing to win any of their first 10 to a league season in 1985-86, and the Blades only doing so in 1990-91.
• If this game between West Brom and Sheffield United finishes level, it will be just the third season in Premier League history that two sides have failed to win any of their opening 10 games, after 2012-13 (Reading and QPR) and 2018-19 (Newcastle and Huddersfield).
• Coming into this weekend's games, no team has conceded more Premier League goals this season than West Brom (18), while no side has scored fewer than Sheffield United (4).
• Sheffield United are the only side yet to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season. They'd kept four shutouts in their first nine games in the competition last season, while only three sides finished the 2019-20 campaign with more clean sheets than the Blades (13).
• Sheffield United have conceded the most goals from crosses (6), and the most headed goals (6) in the Premier League so far this season. The Blades had conceded just four headed goals, and eight goals from crosses in the whole of the 2019-20 campaign.
• West Brom have had fewer big chances than any other Premier League side so far this season (3), while they also have the lowest expected goals (xG) value in the division (4.7). Meanwhile, Sheffield United have the biggest negative difference between their xG and goals scored this season (8.6 xG, 4 goals), netting nearly five goals fewer than would normally be expected based on the quality of their chances.
• The home side has lost just one of the last 17 Premier League meetings between the bottom two sides (W11 D5), with Norwich going down 0-2 against Watford in November 2019.

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