Sheffield United made the trip to Portsmouth last Saturday in the hunt for three points that could catch up Bournemouth and league leaders Donacaster Rovers but a disappointing display ended in a 3-0 defeat. Shaun Cooper (21 minutes), David Connolly (24) and Jed Wallace (32) all scored for the already relegated club.
Blades interim boss Chris Morgan is without striker Shaun Miller (cruciate knee ligament); meanwhile keeper Mark Howard (thigh) and defender Lescinel Jean-Francois (knee) have returned to training but are unlikely to see first team action soon. He is also without Diego DeGirolamo (knee) through injury.
Defender Harry Maguire will return to squad selection after sitting out a one match suspension following the two bookings he picked-up in last Tuesday’s 2-2 thriller against Brentford.
Meanwhile Danny Higginbotham is set to retain his place after manager Chris Morgan hinted that Tony McMahon won’t feature. “Tony McMahon is having a jab on Monday and he'll be available for selection, but it would be daft to use him. We need to get him rested and right for the play-offs.” He told BBC Radio Sheffield; "There won't be multiple changes, but we need to look at freshening up in certain areas. The last thing I'm going to do is make five or six changes and not take the game seriously.
"We had a mad 10-15 minutes on Saturday and other than that we didn't play that badly. We were excellent in the second half. "They [Crewe] won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and they did fantastically to do that, but their results haven't been great since. We will treat every team with the respect they deserve; it will be a tough game."
Johnston’s Paint Trophy Winners Crewe Alexandra – who lay in mid table travelled to Yeovil Town last Saturday, who had already secured a play-off spot and came as no surprise that the Glovers won this match 1-0 but will no doubt feel disappointed that they didn’t add to their tally after Joe Edwards scored the game’s only goal after 51 seconds of play.
Crewe have no injury doubts following their defeat at Huish Park; defender Mark Ellis (ankle) returned to action last Saturday after being injured in last Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat to Swindon Town, whilst keeper Steve Phillips (dead leg) replaced Alan Martin after missing the previous two fixtures through injury.
Blades-Mad Prediction: Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Sheffield United
:: Head-to-Head ::
Sheffield United and Crewe Alexandra have faced each other in every Football League Division, with of course the exception of top flight status. Our first ever meetings came in the Second Division during the 1892-93 season, at that time there were only two Divisions in English Football and United excelled at the first hurdle, beating the 'Alex' 4-0 in both ties home and away and having played out a Test Match against Accrington and winning 1-0 the Blades were promoted to the top flight - United won a Play-Off Final (at the City Ground, Nottingham Forest) and were the first club in the World to be promoted!
United and Crewe had to wait another 88 years until they met again (1981-82) in the Fourth Division where a similar score-line was played out, United winning 4-0 at Gresty Road and a 3-2 win at Bramall Lane. In the 11 matches played at the Lane our opponents have never tasted victory there once.
League form versus Crewe Alexandra...
P W D L F AHome
11 8 3 0 24 5Away
10 6 1 3 19 12Total
21 14 4 3 43 17 * Statistics correct up to and including 18 April 2013Season
Date
Home
Score
Away
Competition
2012/2013
Tue 20 Nov
Sheff. Utd.
3 - 3
Crewe Alex.
League One
2005/2006
Fri 03 Mar
Sheff. Utd.
0 - 0
Crewe Alex.
Championship
Mon 29 Aug
Crewe Alex.
1 - 3
Sheff. Utd.
Championship
2004/2005
Tue 08 Mar
Sheff. Utd.
4 - 0
Crewe Alex.
Championship
Fri 29 Oct
Crewe Alex.
2 - 3
Sheff. Utd.
Championship
2003/2004
Tue 24 Feb
Crewe Alex.
0 - 1
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
Tue 04 Nov
Sheff. Utd.
2 - 0
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
2001/2002
Sat 30 Mar
Crewe Alex.
2 - 2
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
Sat 27 Oct
Sheff. Utd.
1 - 0
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
2000/2001
Tue 06 Mar
Crewe Alex.
1 - 0
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
Sat 14 Oct
Sheff. Utd.
1 - 0
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
1999/2000
Mon 24 Apr
Sheff. Utd.
1 - 1
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
Sat 09 Oct
Crewe Alex.
1 - 0
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
1998/1999
Sat 30 Jan
Crewe Alex.
1 - 2
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
Mon 31 Aug
Sheff. Utd.
3 - 1
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
1997/1998
Thu 30 Apr
Crewe Alex.
2 - 1
Sheff. Utd.
League Division One
Sat 29 Nov
Sheff. Utd.
1 - 0
Crewe Alex.
League Division One
1981/1982
Sat 01 May
Crewe Alex.
2 - 3
Sheff. Utd.
Fourth Division
Tue 29 Sep
Sheff. Utd.
4 - 0
Crewe Alex.
Fourth Division
1892/1893
Wed 12 Apr
Crewe Alex.
0 - 4
Sheff. Utd.
Second Division
Sat 18 Mar
Sheff. Utd.
4 - 0
Crewe Alex.
Second Division
Source: Blades-Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
