Sheffield United ace: “The defenders seem to love to defend”, Wilder reveals key man is unavailable against Swansea and Luton | OneFootball

Sheffield United face a busy week as they host Swansea City on Wednesday night and Luton Town on Saturday afternoon, as they look to extend their unbeaten start to the season.

One man who the Blades appeared to miss during the recent goalless draw at Portsmouth was Oliver Arblaster, who won’t be returning to the first team until after the international break, Chris Wilder has stated.

The United manager told SUTV, “It’s week by week, really. Let’s get through the international break and see how it is, leading up to the two big games after the break. It’s not ‘serious’ serious. We’ve got to cope with it and I believe we will cope with it. Sydie has come in and played a part. Jamie Shackleton and Gus can play in there if we want to.

He added: “It’s a tight squad and we have to cope and get over these mini setbacks and show we are not just about one player and the team isn’t reliant on one player, even though he is an outstanding young player.”

Michael Cooper pulls off a spectacular save to keep the score level between Sheffield United and Portsmouth.

Sheffield United extend their unbeaten run and clean sheet record

Sheffield United have now kept four clean sheets in a row and with that run increasing the defence is getting more and more confident.

While Michael Cooper should take a lot of credit for his incredible saves down at Fratton Park last weekend, it is very much a team effort: Alfie Gilchrist and Harrison Burrows are protecting the flanks very well, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Harry Souttar are sweeping up the danger in the box or in behind the defensive line, and Cooper looks reassuring when he claims a cross or pulls off a spectacular reflex save like against Pompey.

United’s star left-back, Burrows, recently told the club’s media, “the defenders just seem to love to defend, when one of us makes a block or a tackle, everyone is high fiving each other and the crowd reacts to it.”

Wednesday night’s visitors, Swansea City, will enter Bramall Lane full of confidence with their current three-match unbeaten run, beating Norwich City and Coventry City, and drawing to Bristol City. That form has seen them rise to 9th, just two points behind the Blades.

Swansea City boss on their start to the season

Ahead of the midweek game against the Blades, Swansea boss Luke Williams reflected on his side’s solid start to the campaign. “We know we have to continue to improve and keep working,” he claimed. “There is plenty we can take from how we have started the season, we are in a good position. The thing is we want to be in a better position, and that’s how we feel at the moment and that’s the feeling in the dressing room.”

“We know we are working in an honest way, we are trying to learn from each performance. I know people hear this sort of thing a lot, but we are working to improve at both ends of the pitch. It sounds very easy, but it’s a difficult thing to do,” as quoted by The Star.