All roads lead to Wembley
With the EFL footballing calendar drawing to a close over the May bank holiday weekend, 90% of Championship clubs are currently sat on a beach enjoying a well-earned summer break, and only two clubs are still in the mix.
With the most expensive game in football still to play, £240 million stands as the grand prize for the winners of Saturday’s playoff final, so how can we expect Chris Wilder to approach the game and what can we make of our opponents in Sheffield United?
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Opposition analysis
Much like Sunderland, Sheffield United found themselves in an automatic promotion dogfight until they ultimately fell away from the summit in the final month of the season.
Having finished with ninety points yet missing out on automatic promotion, they cemented themselves as a class above the rest of the league even with their two-point deduction.
Having suffered a relegation in 2023/2024 which saw them ship a century of goals in the top flight and concerns around their ownership structure, Wilder was left with a half-motivated squad and needed to find his best eleven following the dismal end to the previous campaign.
Following a flurry of signings towards the end of the window, the Blades found themselves making a dozen signings during the summer window and started the campaign with automatic promotion in mind — very much an aspirational target given their uncertainty off the pitch.
Sheffield United 24/25
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Playing in a solid 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation (personnel dependant) Wilder shifted away from the 3-5-2 with which Paul Heckingbottom had previously achieved promotion and looked to build around the core of the squad which remained.
With a host of talented names including Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare, Ben Brereton Diaz, Vini Souza and Tom Davies, Wilder’s task was to help them gel on the pitch and keep up with the offensive firepower of Leeds United whilst also matching the defensive stability of Burnley.
As the season progressed, Wilder was able to force results over the line and keep pace with the aforementioned front runners, and by tinkering with his personnel, he was often able to field his best eleven — albeit with square pegs in round holes at times in order to overpower the opposition due to sheer creative quality and by Christmas, he saw his side jostling for first place as the heavy winter schedule arrived.
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Ultimately, a run of three consecutive defeats against relegation strugglers combined with the points deduction saw United slip away from the top two.
However, by finishing with ninety points, they’d comfortably distanced themselves fourteen points ahead of Sunderland in fourth and showed that they fully deserved a shot at a return to the Premier League.
Head-to-head record
When we look at the games between the Blades and Sunderland this season, they were eerily similar in terms of results and having faced off twice in six weeks, both sides recorded a home win and an away loss.
Both teams dominated the fixture in which they lost, yet found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline.
Sunderland looked more threatening at Bramall Lane before a last-gasp Tom Davies winner, and conversely United were dominant at the Stadium of Light before a breakaway double from Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor saw Sunderland take all three points in a 2-1 win.
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Interestingly, both sides also missed penalties in their respective losses and despite picking up the home win, played better away from home when they had the ability to break on their opponent and play on the transition with real pace.
With both teams having a serious threat on the transition, it could lead to a real game of ‘cat and mouse’ as both sides fight for the chance to utilise the gaps left by the opposition, retaining possession and presenting a higher defensive line.
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Unlike Sunderland’s playoff semi-final opponents in Coventry City (whom Sunderland played back in March), neither side has faced one another since New Year’s Day and therefore both sides have changed both their style of play but also their match day squads, which provides a true ‘one-off’ feel for the final.
The Blades’ main threats
Whether justified or not, Gustavo Hamer won the Championship’s ‘player of the season’ award for a reason and therefore he’s the de-facto choice when looking at star players for the opposition, having recorded nine goals and seven assists from wide on the left this season.
Hamer has operated out of his preferred position pretty much all season and still produced a fantastic output for the year.
Similarly to how Sunderland have been forced to utilise Enzo Le Fée, Hamer drifts infield during the build up and therefore often finds himself acting as a more central catalyst when in possession.
He’s created 72 chances this season, which places him in the 96th percentile, and with 84 completed long passes, he’s at the top of the pile within the 100th percentile.
Additionally, with 9 goals from his 29 shots on target, he finds himself in the 94th percentile for attacking midfielders with a shot conversion rate of 7% of his shots on target.
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On the opposite flank, Crystal Palace loanee Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is a name Sunderland fans may be familiar with following his links over the last two seasons, and he’s someone to keep a real eye, having contributed seven goals and two assists from out wide.
As a more consistent goal threat than provider or creator, the twenty-two year-old winger loves to cut in and unleash strikes with his preferred left foot and plays with real pace on the break.
In an almost mirrored image of Romaine Mundle, his explosive and direct running style means he’s had 148 touches in the opposition box which places him in the top 6% of Championship wingers and with a dribble success rate of over 55% this season is certainly one that will have Sunderland’s left flank under pressure.
Rak-Sakyi 24/25
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From a defensive standpoint, Vini De Souza is worth a mention due to his ability to break up play in the centre of midfield and utilise his ability to counter-press and break up opposition attacks in transition.
De Souza was injured for both games earlier in the season when the sides met but his 73 tackles won this campaign ranks him in the top 2% of all Championship midfielders paired with his duel winning at 230, also placing him in the top 6% of midfielders during the 2024/2025 campaign.
In defence, similar to the attacking output offered by Sunderland’s full backs, Harrison Burrows was signed from Peterborough during the summer and has notched twelve goal contributions from left full back in all competitions — including one goal and three assists in the Blades’ 6-0 thumping of Bristol City in the playoff semi-final.
Harrison Burrows 24/25
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The tactical approach
Stylistically, Sheffield United sit just above the 2024/2024 league average for possession, retaining the ball at roughly 51.5%, which places them ninth in the league.
Compared to Sunderland, who sit twelfth with an average possession of 49.1%, it means we’re likely to see both sides see a typically average amount of the ball for the type of game they play.
United kept twenty two clean sheets during the campaign and conceded an average of 0.8 goals per game, which places them comfortably third in league position behind Leeds and Burnley, which accurately reflects their position as the ‘best of the rest’.
As mentioned, Wilder likes to deploy a hybrid of a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1.
This mirrors Le Bris in many ways and is often ‘shape dependent’ based on the opposition and the availability of his forwards in Kieffer Moore, Tyrese Campbell and January addition Tom Cannon.
Given the forward selection has been more fruitful in the latter stages of the champaign, Wilder has often leant towards a 4-4-2 with Hamer drifting infield to allow Burrows to provide width on the overlap and forming a 3-5-2 in possession with Hamer moving behind his two strikers to thread balls in behind the opposition defensive line.
From an attacking perspective, United have created 88 ‘big chances’ from open play this season, which sits just above Sunderland with 87. However, the big disparity comes in the ruthless nature of their front line.
The Blades have scored sixty three goals from those compared to Sunderland’s fifty eight. They’ve only missed fifty chances, which ranks them in the bottom quarter of teams, and they’re far more clinical than Sunderland’s previous opponents in Coventry and therefore a more passive defensive approach is likely to be punished.
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From a passing standpoint, they utilise the size of Moore to win headers and progress up the pitch vertically, playing the league’s third-highest number of accurate long balls per game at 23.8.
However, unlike Coventry, they don’t like to cross the ball very often, completing only 3.5 successful crosses per 90, which ranks them down in 19th.
With 1159 touches in the opposition box during the season, they rank just shy of Sunderland with 1162 and therefore it’s likely that when an opportunity arises, it only takes one or two touches before they manage to get a shot off.
Que sera sera…
With both sides having pretty atrocious Wembley records, all statistical data goes out of the window on the big day.
Given the size of what’s at stake, the occasion often results in players and coaches performing vastly differently to their ‘expected’ way of operating — some will rise to the occasion whereas others will shrink and play within themselves.
With Chris Wilder certainly under more pressure on the day given United’s parachute payments and status as bookmakers’ favourites, we may see some questionable tactics on the day given the £250 million prize that’s at stake.
In some ways, the ‘underdog’ status may work in favour of our young stars, the majority of who will be the playing for the biggest prize in their careers thus far.
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With a true ‘one off’ feel to this game, anything could happen but regardless of the result, Sunderland’s fans and staff can be extremely proud of the fact that we’ve earned ourselves a shot at the big time through sheer determination and a naive confidence that only a side as young as ours could harness.
Whatever happens on Saturday afternoon, I’ll be backing the Lads with everything I’ve got and I hope to see you all down there with me doing the same.
If there’s ever a chance to shine when the lights are brightest, it’s in the most expensive football match in the world. Keep the faith and Haway the Lads!