Sheffield United vs Arsenal preview: How to watch, predicted lineups, score prediction & injury updates

Arsenal travel to Bramall Lane on Sunday to face the Premier League’s bottom club Sheffield United in a welcome break from Europa League disappointment. Here is the match preview.

Is this the perfect match to follow Thursday night’s escapades? Given the way the fixtures have played out for Arsenal, their route to the Europa League final could not have been any kinder.

Slavia Prague were one of the easier draws and could be followed by a clash with either Dinamo Zagreb or Villarreal, another favourable tie, with a meeting against one of the worst sides in Premier League history sandwiching the quarter-final. Arsenal couldn’t have asked for much better.

Selection-wise not much would have changed in Mikel Arteta’s mind since a clash with the bottom side allowed him to rotate those in need of a rest, however; now momentum will be key to overturning a poor result in the first leg.

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Sheffield United vs Arsenal preview: Sunday’s Premier League clash at Bramall Lane

Sheffield United have won just four matches all campaign and scoring a pitiful 17 goals in 30 outings, but now fans will be expecting them to turn into prime Manchester City with the way Arsenal continue to let matches within their grasp fade away.

A fixture where the Gunners should be confident heading into is no longer as such, despite the disparity between the two sides in terms of quality. And that says a lot. Even if Arsenal are hopelessly inconsistent, they’re still legions ahead of the Blades. They have to make that show.

With three full days following the journey to south Yorkshire before jetting off to Prague, those who only recently returned to action such as Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka may need additional resting time, and while their absences were keenly felt against Liverpool, Arsenal should navigate their way past a dreadful outfit without them. At least for 60 or so minutes.

There has to be a response. A win will lift the spirits, but a weak 1-0 scraped in the dying embers won’t be the lift this side desperately need heading into a do or die fixture.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Sunday 10 April
What Time Is Kick Off? 19:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Bramall Lane
TV Channel/Live Stream? BT Sport (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Peter Bankes

Arsenal Team News vs Sheffield United

Licking the wounds of a stoppage time equaliser on Thursday, Arteta dropped the bombshell that Martin Odegaard’s absence will stretch beyond the first leg clash.

The Norwegian is still nursing an injury sustained from the international break and the update from the manager after full-time heightened concern he wouldn’t be available for the return leg.

"“We don’t know, he [Odegaard] wasn’t able to play today and he will be out I think for the next game or two. But we don’t know yet,” he worryingly updated."

Thus he is out of Sunday’s clash for definite, joining defensive duo Kieran Tierney and David Luiz on the sidelines. The Scot will be out for another four to six weeks, a timeframe not as bad as initially expected but nonetheless hugely damaging.

Luiz, meanwhile, is racing to be back fit in time for the end of the season but is expected to do so, and if Arsenal successfully reach the next round of the Europa League then he may be back for that.

Left out of the squad entirely, somewhat surprisingly, was Calum Chambers. There was no word from the boss about his omission but having not trained the day before it’s expected he too picked up a knock.

As for the hosts, Jack O’Connell and Jack Robinson remain long-term absentees, while John Egan and Chris Basham are set to return in the lineup, as is midfielder Sander Berge. Billy Sharp is a doubt up front.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

Sheffield United: Ramsdale; Egan, Basham, Stevens; Bogle, Lundstram, Norwood, Berge, Osborn; McGoldrick, McBurnie

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mari, Cedric; Partey, Xhaka, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Willian, Aubameyang

Sheffield United vs Arsenal Score Prediction

Can one ever be confident any more? There is no easier fixture in the division for Arsenal barring the possibility of welcoming the Blades to the Emirates, but even then home form has been so dire that even that can be argued.

Under Paul Heckingbottom the hosts have been equally as limp as they were under Chris Wilder, although they showed some unrecognisable fight in their recent 2-1 loss to Leeds United – even if they only had one shot on target.

Other than that he’s overseen some torrid results since taking the post, truly cementing Sheffield United’s place as one of the worst sides of the Premier League era.

So what are Arsenal if not one of the worst sides of their Premier League era? The wild inconsistencies within this group can breed utter abjection in both boxes as well as free-flowing attacking in healthy measures. It’s a lottery.

Moreover, this previously solid defensive outlook has dissipated dramatically, with the Gunners now on a streak of 14 consecutive fixtures without a clean sheet that equals their longest run of in the competition – from October to December 2019 – during which Unai Emery lost his job.

Struggling for goals and failing to keep them out? A recipe for disaster.

However, this Sheffield United side are one every team wants to face. Is saying so a foreshadowing for an inevitable catastrophe on Sunday? It may be, but with a football team supposed to be heading in the right direction – this is debatable – failure to oversee a win against a side rooted to the foot of the table is simply inexcusable.

Arsenal should win this. I wouldn’t be shocked if they didn’t, though.

Score Prediction: Sheffield United 1-2 Arsenal