Norwich City vs Sheffield United – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United travel to Norwich City on Saturday afternoon to face a Canaries side that are still searching for their first win of the 2024/25 Championship season.

Both teams are coming into this weekend off the back of 2-2 draws. The home team fell behind at Carrow Road against Blackburn Rovers, but they were able to flip the scoreline to 2-1 before conceding a late equaliser.

The Blades meanwhile dominated the first half against QPR and they were 2-0 up after 15 minutes, an early second half goal and a last minute equaliser shared the points last Saturday.

Transfer business

Norwich City have made seven signings thus far, while on the other hand they have seen over a dozen players depart, including Sam McCallum who is now with the Blades. Gabriel Sara is another departed player they will deeply miss.

All of the players that Johannes Thorup has brought in are quite young, all under the age of 23, and they are inexperienced at Championship level other than Manchester City loanee Callum Doyle, who has had loan spells at Coventry City and most recently Leicester City.

Doyle is a player that I think has a bright future ahead of him; he has a great physical presence while maintaining that athleticism, but most importantly these days, he is quite measured on the ball. All of these things allow him to transition from left-back to left sided centre-back without any hiccups.

Doyle played at left-back in the opening game while he later switched to left centre-back for the second league game to partner up Shane Duffy. Nonetheless, he managed to get an assist by threading the ball from the left touchline to inside the box for Josh Sargent.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 13: Harry Souttar of Sheffield United reacts during the Carabao Cup First Round match between Sheffield United and Wrexham at Bramall Lane on August 13, 2024 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Team news

The Canaries will be without Ashley Barnes once more. Attacker Jonathan Rowe will miss out once again as he nears a transfer to Olympique Marseille.

For the Blades, both Sam McCallum and Rhys Norrington-Davies featured in a development team match earlier this week and will likely be on the bench this weekend. Jamie Shackleton will remain out while Femi Seriki is also a doubt.

Harry Souttar can be in line for a start with Ipswich Town in negotiations to sign Anel Ahmedhodzic.

Updates to follow.

LEEDS, ENGLAND – MAY 16: Josh Sargent of Norwich City shoots which is saved by Illan Meslier of Leeds United during the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg match between Leeds United and Norwich City at Elland Road on May 16, 2024 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Norwich City’s star player for this game

Last season’s top scorer for Norwich, Josh Sargent, netted 16 goals in 26 Championship appearances, that averages out at a goal every 116 minutes which is an incredible rate. And the American international opened his account up for the season last weekend.

Sargent may not be the most physically imposing of strikers but he can most certainly hold the ball up relatively well. But, my main worry this weekend is his pace and energy. The Blades have tended to be a lot more aggressive in their pressing approach so far this season and if that press is beaten by a ball down the sides of the defence then Sargent can latch onto that and run at a gaping defence. And the same goes for counter-attacking scenarios.

PRESTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 09: Gustavo Hamer of Sheffield United celebrates with Vinicius Souza and Callum O’Hare after scoring their second goal during the Sky Bet Championship.

Sheffield United’s star player for this game

In last week’s preview I singled out Kieffer Moore to be the man who got on the scoresheet, and he did. This week however I am singling out a player who may or may not register a goal or an assist, that said I do think this can be a very favourable matchup for Callum O’Hare.

O’Hare has excellent work rate as well as agility and intelligent movement, and I think having him picking up positions in pockets in front of the Norwich defence will cause them a lot of issues if the Blades play quick tempo passes. When you look at the likely central four of Norwich: Shane Duffy, Doyle, Marcelino Nunez and Kenny McLean, other than Nunez, they aren’t very quick at changing direction, which someone like O’Hare with a low centre of gravity can take advantage of.

While O’Hare isn’t an overly skillful attacking midfielder, he has great quickness with the ball at his feet and just by simply driving at defenders and changing direction he can exploit slow defenders and midfielders.

The 26-year-old got his first assist in a Blades shirt last weekend and he can follow that up with a very impactful performance this Saturday at Carrow Road.

My view

I think Norwich City vs Sheffield United will be a very entertaining game to watch with both sides capable of matching each other’s quality, although the Blades should have an edge in the middle of the park.

The sharpshooting Sargent is certainly one to keep an eye on anywhere around the box and he may be coming up against a debutant in the form of Michael Cooper, who was on the bench last Saturday.

If Kieffer Moore remains up front for United then a potential battle between the Welsh international and Shane Duffy will be one to watch as the afternoon unfolds as they’ll both be tussling with each other in the box all game.

My prediction

With this game being played at Carrow Road I am leaning towards a score draw for this one. However, this one may simply come down to who can maintain that extra zip in their forward passing and exploit the gaps in deep midfield positions, which I think Sheffield United can do. In terms of which side has the clinical edge I would have to go with Norwich City.