Sheffield United will begin their return to Premier League action with a clash against Crystal Palace at Bramall Lane. Sheffield’s lack of attacking punch may be their undoing this season and with Palace looking settled since the return of Roy Hodgson, they are likely to claim the upper hand here.
Sheffield United made sure of automatic promotion to the Premier League with a 2-0 home victory over West Bromwich Albion. They did it with three games to spare, locking down second place behind Championship winners Burnley.
The major objective for Sheffield United is to avoid the nightmare of the 2020/21 season in which they finished rock bottom in the Premier League. However, they head into the campaign seemingly weakened in the transfer window following the departures of attacker Iliman Ndiaye and midfielder Sander Berge.
Sheffield United seemed to miss the creativity of Sander Berge and finishing during preseason as they struggled to win games or score goals. Paul Heckingbottom’s men claimed just one win in five warm-up matches, scoring just once in that run.
Crystal Palace retained their topflight status after going on a fine run in the second half of the season following the appointment of Roy Hodgson. They will be looking to improve on last season’s 11th placed finish and will target maximum points at Bramall Lane with sterner tests against Arsenal and Brentford next on the schedule.
While things appear settled at Crystal Palace, the one big change is the departure of local hero Wilfried Zaha in the transfer window. Preseason was a mixed back for the Eagles as they claimed three wins and suffered two defeats from seven warm-up fixtures.
Crystal Palace will be keen to channel some of their performance in the final weeks of last season where they suffered just two defeats in 10 matches. There were wins at Leeds United and Southampton while they also saw off the likes of West Ham and Bournemouth.
How the bookies view it
Crystal Palace are placed as heavy favourites among the bookies with Paddy Power offering odds of 7/5 for a win. A victory for Sheffield United valued at 23/10 by Unibet while a draw for is set at odds of 11/5 by Betfred.
Head to Head
Crystal Palace have a 17-16 advantage with seven draws from 40 previous matches against Sheffield United. The Eagles did the double over Sheffield in their last Premier League campaign during the 2020-21 season, claiming a 2-0 victory in both matches.
Players to watch
Eberechi Eze had his best goal return in a single campaign last season and could be the focal point for Crystal Palace following the departure of Wilfred Zaha. Unibet is offering odds of 29/10 on the midfielder to score anytime on Saturday.
With Sheffield United missing some attacking quality, Crystal Palace will be targeting a shutout on Saturday. Mark Guehi and Joachim Andersen could partner in central defence and can lead the Eagles to a clean sheet at 7/4 with 10bet
Anything else catch the eye?
With Sheffield United looking lightweight in attack, BTTS NO can be considered at 10/11 with William Hill. Crystal Palace will also be targeting a win to nil at 3/1 with Paddy Power.
Given Crystal Palace’s superior quality over Sheffield United, they could be tipped to score first on Saturday at 10/11 with BoyleSports.
This English Premier League match between Sheffield United and Crystal Palace will be played on Aug 12, 2023 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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