We look ahead to the second leg of this Championship play-off semi-final at Bramall Lane with our Sheffield United vs Bristol City prediction and preview.
Following a 3-0 defeat in the Championship play-off first leg, Bristol City have it all to do if they are to reach the final at Wembley. They were resoundingly beaten by Sheffield United on Thursday, with a disputed red card decision pivotal.
It was actually a relatively tight first leg at Ashton Gate, until it wasn’t.
Liam Manning’s side were holding their own until just before half-time. The visitors had seen a goal from Tyrese Campbell disallowed for offside while Joe Williams had seen a shot crash off the crossbar for the hosts.
Williams went off injured, though, which was an ominous sign as the game was about to get away from Bristol City.
In first-half stoppage time, a long ball was flicked on by Campbell into the path of the on-running Kieffer Moore. The big striker was brought down by Rob Dickie, though the home side felt the defender won the ball as part of the challenge, leading to a penalty for Sheffield United and a red card for the Robins defender. Harrison Burrows stepped up to convert the spot-kick.
The extra man ensured Chris Wilder’s side dominated much of the second half, having nine shots to Bristol City’s one after the break, and they doubled their lead in the 73rd minute when Burrows’ ball in from the left was dummied smartly by Callum O’Hare, with substitute Andre Brooks firing in at the far post.
It was 3-0 six minutes later as O’Hare turned the ball in after Gustavo Hamer’s corner was headed down and Vinicius Souza’s shot fell kindly for the former Coventry City midfielder.
Bristol City boss Manning was unhappy with Dickie’s sending off, describing it as a “huge error” by referee Oliver Langford.
“I thought we showed really good control, bravery to go out and play, gave up a couple of chances, but I thought it was a really good spectacle for Championship football and then unfortunately a huge error goes and changes the way the game goes,” Manning told BBC Radio Bristol after the game.
“We’ll keep believing, we’ll keep fighting. That’s the beauty of sport, if you look at the history of it, there have been many comebacks. I know this group inside out, they’re hurting right now, hugely disappointed, but at the same point once we’re in tomorrow, we’ll be ready to go Monday.”
Bristol City confirmed on Friday that they would be appealing the red card in an attempt to have Dickie available for Monday’s second leg.
Blades boss Wilder, who wasn’t happy with the disallowed goal for his team earlier in the game, believed the red card was the right call, and praised his team for taking advantage.
“As far as I’m concerned it was the correct decision, he’s an experienced referee, he let a lot go, it was a competitive Championship game. They’ve made the mistake, not us,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield.
“After that, it was about patience, seeing what their shape was after they came out at half-time, how would they go about it and then knowing that maybe we’d get an opportunity to be clinical.
“I’m delighted that we’ve got a three-goal lead, but there’s still a lot of work to go into this. There must be a full house at Bramall Lane for this team.”
The second leg takes place on Monday night, with Sheffield United looking to seal their place in the final. They drew 1-1 at home to Bristol City in March, with Campbell giving the hosts the lead, before Mark Sykes came off the bench to score a 90th-minute equaliser.
Sheffield United were missing Ben Brereton Díaz (illness) and Femi Seriki (shoulder) on Thursday but both could be in contention for the second leg, though with a three-goal cushion, Wilder may consider resting both for a potential final.
Assuming Bristol City’s appeal of Dickie’s red card is unsuccessful, they will be without their centre-back at Bramall Lane through suspension, as well as influential midfielder Williams, who hobbled off with an ankle injury in the first leg.
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Bristol City are winless across their last eight games against Sheffield United in all competitions (D2 L6), going back to a 3-2 victory at Bramall Lane in the Championship in March 2019.
As well as their first-leg victory at Ashton Gate, 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 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, with the aforementioned 1-1 draw thanks to Sykes’ late leveller.
Bristol City vs Sheffield United Prediction
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Opta supercomputer doesn’t give Bristol City much chance of a heroic comeback. Sheffield United win the second leg in 53.4% of simulations, with a draw that would also comfortably see the Blades through occurs in 23.9%.
Bristol City win just 22.7% of sims, but even that may not be enough, with the Robins needing to win by three clear goals just to take the tie to extra-time.
They are only able to find a way to make it to the final in 1.7% of the supercomputer’s simulations, with Sheffield United safely advancing 98.3% of the time.
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Sheffield United vs Bristol City Prediction Opta Analyst.
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