Basement battle at Bramall Lane
08 Sep 2006 - 07:39:05
The Premiership's bottom two teams meet at Bramall Lane this weekend with both sides desperate to clinch a first win of the campaign.
Blades boss Neil Warnock has seen his side crash to successive defeats at Fulham and Tottenham after battling to an encouraging draw with Liverpool on the first day of the season. Goals look set to be a problem for United this term with Rob Hulse's effort against Rafa Benitez's side being their only success to date.
To add to Warnock's woes it was confirmed this week that Nick Montgomery faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after being forced to have surgery on an ankle injury that has troubled the midfielder for the last three years.
Paddy Kenny (thigh), Derek Geary (groin), Craig Short (thigh), Steven Kabba (hamstring) and Claude Davis (knee) are also all doubts for Saturday's game although Warnock is confident that, at the very least, Short and Davis will be fit enough to feature.
Rovers boss Mark Hughes opted to make big changes to his strike options in the summer with Craig Bellamy, Paul Dickov and Shefki Kuqi all leaving Ewood Park to be replaced by Shabani Nonda, Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts but the alterations have still to bear fruit.
Rovers have managed only one goal - in the 1-1 draw with Everton - and have also lost to Portsmouth (3-0) and Chelsea (2-0).
Meanwhile, recent signing Andre Ooijer endured a nightmare debut in the defeat to Jose Mourinho's side, conceding a penalty before being out-muscled by Didier Drogba as the Ivory Coast international added the second goal at Ewood Park.
The Dutch international may struggle to keep his place for Saturday's game although Ryan Nelsen's return to action has been put back as he requires surgery on a troublesome hamstring injury.
The last time the two sides met was in the 2000-01 season when the Blades won 2-0 at Bramall Lane before claiming a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.