Preview: Sheffield United vs Preston North End - prediction, team news, lineups

Sitting level on points in the bottom half of the Championship table, Sheffield United and Preston North End will do battle at Bramall Lane in the penultimate round of games of the season on Saturday.

Midweek defeats leave the two teams 14th and 16th respectively and two points outside of the top half with two games left to play.

Match preview

Sheffield United head into their final home game of the 2025-26 Championship season on Saturday aiming to bounce back to winning ways and move back into the top half of the table.

Their second straight season in the second tier has been a disappointing one, failing to build on last term's eventual playoff final defeat and earning 57 points from their 44 games thus far with only basement side Sheffield Wednesday suffering more than their 21 defeats.

After seeing any faint playoff hopes fade away in a six-game winless run between early March and early April, the Blades did at least look set to end the term on a positive note, recording back-to-back victories as they beat Hull City 2-1 at Bramall Lane and won 2-0 in a trip to Watford last weekend thanks to Patrick Bamford's brace.

They failed to continue that streak in midweek, though, hosting Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday and falling to a 3-1 defeat at Bramall Lane having trailed by three at the break to a Yuki Ohashi brace and a Ryoya Morishita goal before Harrison Burrows pulled one back in the 57th minute.

Now sat 14th and two points off 12th spot, Sheffield United will bid to bounce back on Saturday and at least lay a strong claim for a top-half finish before renewing their hunt for promotion next term.

Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip to South Yorkshire aiming to end a slide down the table and keep their own top-half hopes alive.

It has been a season of two halves for Preston North End, who sat in the top six in mid-January, only to manage just three wins and 14 points from their 18 league games since, losing 10 of those.

Two of those wins did come in a four-game unbeaten run across March and April, ending a four-match losing streak, but Paul Heckingbottom's men have failed to continue their improvement since, going on to suffer another two defeats as they first fell to a 2-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion last weekend.

A trip to Birmingham City then followed on Wednesday, and they would leave empty-handed from a 2-1 defeat at St Andrews, having trailed 2-0 to goals from Jay Stansfield and Ibrahim Osman inside 16 minutes and failed to find a leveller after Andrew Hughes halved the deficit in the first half.

Now sat 16th after their strong first half to the campaign, Preston North End will at least aim to record a pair of positive results to bow out this term with a chance to move back towards the top 10 with an away victory at the side Heckingbottom led to promotion to the Premier League in 2023.

Sheffield United Championship form:

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Preston North End Championship form:

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Team News

Sheffield United remain without first-choice goalkeeper Michael Cooper, who is confined to the treatment room alongside Sam McCallum, Kalvin Phillips, Tom Davies and Tyrese Campbell.

Wilder may make changes from Wednesday's defeat to Blackburn, with Femi Seriki, Sydie Peck and Andre Brooks all hoping to come in from the outset having missed out on the starting XI through illness in midweek.

Brooks, Tahith Chong, Tom Cannon, Gustavo Hamer and Callum O'Hare will all compete for attacking spots, while Bamford should continue to lead the line having netted 11 goals in 26 Championship appearances this term.

Ben Whiteman may again miss out for Preston North End, after being ruled out by injury in midweek, while Callum Lang and Ali McCann will continue spells on the sidelines.

Brad Potts joined Jordon Thompson and Alfie Devine in a makeshift midfield trio in midweek in the absence of Whiteman and McCann, although Andrew Moran will compete to come in from the start.

Thierry Small will also hope to get the nod on the right-hand side having been reduced to a substitute appearance last time out, while Lewis Dobbin, Milutin Osmajic, Daniel Jebbison and Michael Smith will fight for two spots up front.

Sheffield United possible starting lineup:

Davies; Seriki, Tanganga, McGuinness, Burrows; Peck, Rothwell; Cannon, O'Hare, Hamer; Bamford

Preston North End possible starting lineup:

Iversen; Offiah, Lindsay, Hughes; Small, Moran, Thompson, Devine, Vukcevic; Dobbin, Jebbison

We say: Sheffield United 2-1 Preston North End

Sheffield United were left disappointed not to continue a winning streak into the end of the season on Wednesday, but they have the quality to bounce back with a victory at home to a Preston North End side quickly dropping down the table in the run-in.

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