Chris Wilder makes Arsenal reference amid honest Sheffield United debrief | OneFootball

The Blades' boss wasn't particularly happy with how his side played in midweek.

Chris Wilder joked that Sheffield United's single-goal victory over Swansea City was a very "one-nil to the Arsenal" showing from his team.

The win on Wednesday night against Swansea leaves United as the only remaining undefeated team in the Championship. It wasn't exactly a vintage performance that will live in the memory for a long time. The only goal that separated the two teams didn't even come from a Blades boot.

Just a couple of minutes before the half-time whistle blew, Josh Tymon turned Harrison Burrows' cross into the Swansea box into his own net and City weren't able to claw the game back to level-pegging.

It's a result that sees United keep pace with the leaders of the league through eight matches. Despite a two-point deduction, they sit just two points off Sunderland in top spot, but, at the same time, they are only as many points ahead of Middlesbrough who are in seventh.

Blades boss Chris Wilder admitted after the game that, despite his side's strong start to the season, there are areas that can clearly be worked on. Although he did make a tongue-in-cheek comparison between his side and one of the best teams in Europe.

Chris Wilder's Sheffield United, Arsenal comparison

Swansea weren't putting the hosts under the type of pressure that Arsenal have been under in some of their recent games, namely against Manchester City, but Wilder compared the way in which United went about getting three points in midweek to how George Graham's Gunners would have.

"One-nil to the Arsenal!" said Wilder, jokingly, after the game, via The Star.

"We thought about it in the last couple of days and getting the gameplan was spot on. We were very negative and passive but that message in quite a colourful way, was relayed at half-time. We were a lot better in the second half but we still have to be a bit more clinical.

"Had we done that, we could have been a lot more comfortable. We preserved our unbeaten record, which we we’re very proud of. But they weren’t high-fiving each other or jumping through hoops – they know they can do better."

Sheffield United are yet to fully click

As much as the league table starts to take shape at around this point in the season, it'd be hard to argue, despite their record, that the Blades have looked like the third-best team in the division.

What's been getting them through these games is moments of quality from their star players. Michael Cooper has come up with big saves at times, Gus Hamer has provided match-winning goals for them and, of course, you can do with a bit of luck, as they got on Wednesday with the own goal.

Considering the amount of talent in their team that hasn't lived up to its full potential, Callum O'Hare, Kieffer Moore and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi all spring to mind, it is a bit of a surprise that they have kept their record so unblemished.

It must also be a bit of a worry for the other teams, because these players will hit form eventually. That could be a real problem for the other promotion hopefuls.