It is little over 24 hours before Leeds United and Sheffield United do battle in the first Championship match back after the October international break, and Dom Matteo has commented.
After a profitable international break that saw Junior Firpo and Mateo Joseph both score three times for their nations, Leeds are back in action against the most in-form side in the division come Friday night.
Sheffield United sit in second place after winning five of the last six games without conceding a single goal. An incredible run of form with Wilder’s men clearly establishing themselves as promotion hopefuls.
Meanwhile, Leeds come into the game in different shape. Riddled with long-term injury and suffering a midfield crisis that has led to the club considering the free agent market, options like Francis Coquelin.
Dominic Matteo thinks Chris Wilder will be “bang at it” on Friday
A 2-2 draw at Sunderland last time out that should have resulted in a 2-1 win over the Championship’s early pace-setters, but for Illan Meslier’s catastrophic mistake that resulted in Leeds losing two points.
Speaking ahead of the game on Thursday afternoon, former Leeds defender Dom Matteo said that he knows the rivalry between the two sides and indeed, Blades boss Wilder and expects him to be on it.
“I get excited for games like this. Sheffield United, that bit of rivalry. We know Wilder the manager too and what he’s like, he’ll be bang at it. He loves it. It’s one of those games you look forward to as a fan.
“Or a pundit because you know there will be something happening. What we need is the players to control the game and control emotion, because they will be on the wind up as well,” Matteo told LUTV.
Numerous Leeds and Sheffield United players have crossed ties
Jamie Shackleton joined Sheffield United on a free transfer from Leeds United in the summer, while Jayden Bogle then went the other way. It will see both revisit their old teammates for the first time.
Sheffield United also boast on-loan stars Alfie Gilchrist and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, players Leeds wanted but were beaten to in the summer by the Blades. Gustavo Hamer was strongly linked with a move to Leeds.
Leeds made a £13m bid for Hamer, but was rejected. Sheffield United tried to disrupt Joel Piroe, but that has not worked with Piroe currently Leeds’ top scorer on four goals. Plenty of sub-plots then, on Friday.
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