The Sky Bet Championship returns on Friday night when the race for promotion to the Premier League is under the spotlight once again when Sheffield United welcome Coventry City to Bramall Lane for a huge clash.
The Blades will move to the top of the table until Saturday at least if they avoid defeat in this match while Coventry can put five points between them and the chasing pack in the race for the play-offs so both teams are eager for the win here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and ITV 4 channels with the build-up beginning on the Sky channels at 7pm and ITV 4 at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Sheffield United
We are eight games away from the end of the season and Sheffield United are currently in the box seat for an immediate return to the Premier League and they know if they win out from here then they will be back in the top flight next season. This is the time of the season where they will want to hit their top form and they will know that home matches are massive so this is a huge game for them, particularly with Burnley and Leeds firmly in the promotion race with them.
Earlier in the season Sheffield United were being lauded for their defensive record. You can’t exactly call it terrible now, only two teams have a better goals against number than them, but they aren’t quite as tight as they were in the first half of the season. That was always going to be a concern because this isn’t a free scoring Sheffield United side, although they have started putting poorer teams to the sword but in the bigger matches they have sometimes come up short.
Coventry City
The opening 38 games have been very much a period of two halves for the Sky Blues. They were not at their best under Mark Robins and were actually in danger of being dragged in to exit the Championship at the wrong end of the table. They dispensed of his services and employed Frank Lampard and it is fair to say that they haven’t looked back since then. They have risen from the depths of the table up to fifth and will be eyeing up promotion over the next couple of months.
Coventry have won 10 of their last 12 matches and have really caught fire since the turn of the year. No team has picked up more Championship points than them in 2025 and if they can maintain that form over the next eight games, not only will they fly into the play-offs but they will go there in excellent form and probably the favourites to win them. There have been one or two chinks defensively in Coventry leading into the international break but they can counteract that with a lot of goals.
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Team News
Chris Wilder has confirmed that he will have midfielder Vini Souza back for the match after he missed the two games prior to the international break while Alfie Gilchrist is back in training but the match comes too soon for Harry Clarke and Tom Davies.
Frank Lampard has confirmed that his captain Ben Sheaf and playmaker Jack Rudoni are both fit to be in the squad to go to Bramall Lane after they have recovered from injury but they have lost midfielder Josh Eccles to injury.
Betting
I’ve mentioned in recent weeks how you can now get at this Sheffield United defence and you would expect Coventry City to have the firepower to do just that so I’m expecting a game in which both teams find the back of the net here. That bet landed in the reverse meeting between these two sides which was prior to Frank Lampard taking over and the Sky Blues have definitely improved under him so it makes sense that Coventry will go and get goals here.
Five of the last eight Sheffield United games have had both teams scoring and how Luton didn’t score against them in one of the other three is anyone’s guess. Coventry have just had two matches where both teams didn’t score but that ended a run of four where they did and in a game where both sides will not want to lose I think we will see a purpose about the attacks. You can absolutely get at this Blades defence these days but Coventry concede goals on their travels. This should be a Friday night belter with both teams finding the back of the net.
Tips
Back Both teams to score for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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