Bristol City vs Sheffield United Prediction ...Middle East

We look ahead to the first leg of this Championship play-off semi-final at Ashton Gate with our Bristol City vs Sheffield United prediction and preview.

Bristol City host Sheffield United in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final on Thursday night hoping to edge closer to becoming a top-flight team for the first time in 45 years.

Not since they were relegated from the old Division One in 1979-80 have the Robins played a top-flight league match in England, but they are now potentially just three games away from making it to the Premier League.

They finished the regular season in sixth place on 68 points, which is the lowest tally to secure a top-six finish in the second tier since Leicester in 2012-13, while the last team to win fewer were Crystal Palace (62) in 1986-87.

The play-offs have served up disappointment for Bristol City in past seasons, so Liam Manning’s side will be looking to create history this time around. They’ll be playing in their sixth EFL play-off campaign overall, with this their first since 2007-08 in the Championship. On that occasion, the Robins reached Wembley but lost 1-0 to Hull City. They’ve never earned promotion via the play-offs on any of the previous five occasions.

Sheffield United’s challenge for the Championship title fell away in the closing month of the season. On 1 April, they held a four-point lead over both Leeds United and Burnley with only seven games remaining, but collected just seven points in their remaining seven games compared to the 19 won by both sides who ended up winning automatic promotion.

As it transpired, the Blades became just the third side in the history of the second tier to win as many as 90 points yet still fail to get automatically promoted, after only Sunderland in 1997-98 and Leeds last season.

That has left Chris Wilder’s side hoping that the play-offs will provide promotion back to the Premier League this season. It’s not a route that’s given them any joy in the past, however.

They will be competing in the play-offs in the second tier for the sixth time, failing to earn promotion on each of the previous five occasions.

Bristol City don’t exactly head into the play-offs in fine form either, having picked up just one point in their final three games (L2 D1) and winning only one of their final five regular season matches (W1 D2 L2).

Ross McCrorie was their hero on the final day, scoring twice in the final 21 minutes to rescue a 2-2 draw against Preston North End from 2-0 down. Although deployed at full-back, McCrorie’s four goals in City’s final seven league games of 2024-25 was more than any other teammate.

Bristol City will be hoping that their creator-in-chief Max Bird can continue to provide the goods in the play-offs. Bird created the fifth-most chances in the regular league campaign (75) and had the fourth-highest expected assists figure (8.7) across the whole division.

Sheffield United’s Tyrese Campbell offers their biggest goal threat, top scoring for the team in the Championship with 10 goals in 2024-25, including a strike against Bristol City just eight weeks ago.

Goalkeeper Michael Cooper and midfielder Gustavo Hamer are also both key players for the Blades. Hamer, who was named the official Championship Player of the Season at the EFL Awards last month, was their second highest scorer in league games this season (9 goals) and created 20 more chances (72) in the Championship than any other player at the club.

More Championship Reading:

Who Will Win the Championship Play-Offs in 2024-25?

Are League Position or Momentum Linked to EFL Play-Offs Success?

Championship Team of the Season: Opta Analyst’s 2024-25 XI

Bristol City vs Sheffield United Head-to-Head

This is a fixture that hasn’t been kind to Bristol City in recent times. They are winless across their last seven games against Sheffield United in all competitions (D2 L5), going back to a 3-2 victory at Bramall Lane in the Championship in March 2019.

Sheffield United won away at Bristol City earlier this season in the Championship, sealing all three points in dramatic fashion.

After Anis Mehmeti had given the Robins the lead from the penalty spot in the 75th minute, Sheffield United scored twice in the closing stages to steal all three points. Ryan Oné scored his only goal of 2024-25 with four minutes remaining before Harrison Burrows hit the winner in the eighth minute of added time. That strike was the latest match-winning goal scored in the Championship this season (97:11).

Bristol City got some revenge in the meeting at Bramall Lane in March, as they scored a result-altering goal in added time of their own. Mark Sykes’ last-minute effort won them a point on their travels, cancelling out Campbell’s opener for the hosts on the hour-mark.

Bristol City vs Sheffield United Prediction

Despite not beating Sheffield United in any of their last seven meetings, Bristol City are the Opta supercomputer favourites for this first-leg match.

Manning’s side won 38.1% of the pre-match 10,000 supercomputer simulations, just ahead of Sheffield United’s win rate of 35.4%. There’s a decent chance of a draw occurring too, with 26.5% of sims seeing the match ending level going into next week’s second leg at Bramall Lane.

Going into the play-off semis, Sheffield United are projected to win promotion back to the Premier League the most often across the current 10,000 supercomputer simulations (36.0%), while Bristol City did so in less than one-in-five of the sims (19.6%).

The winning team will face the victor of the other semi-final tie between Sunderland and Coventry City at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 24 May.

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Bristol City vs Sheffield United Prediction Opta Analyst.

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