Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Sheffield United – Championship Play-off Final - Saturday 24th May 2025 - KO 15:00

Sunderland travel to Wembley to face Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final for a place in the Premier League.
Last time out Sunderland drew 1-1 (3-2 agg) with Coventry and Sheffield United beat Bristol City 3-0 (6-0 agg)
Dan Ballard scored a last gasp Extra Time winner to put Sunderland into the play-off final.
Regis le Bris started with Dan Ballard in defence and setup in a 442 formation once again.
Romaine Mundle is available along with Aji Alese.
Sheffield United finished the Championship in 3rd place behind Leeds and Burnley. The Blades were 14 points ahead of Sunderland in fourth place, scoring 4 more goals and conceding 8 fewer goals.
Ben Brereton Diaz could recover from the illness that caused him to miss the last two games.
Though Blades fans will undoubtedly be delighted at the prospect of another crack at the big time, there will be some reticence given that the club have the worst record in EFL playoff history. Unbelievably, in nine previous playoff campaigns, Sheffield United have lost out every time.

Regis le Bris:
“Our players never give up. They are really connected — it’s a really special group with great character.
“Even when we’re not great with the ball, we’re still hard to beat because of our togetherness and spirit. That character helps us stay in games.”
“Sheffield United will now be another very tough game,”
“Coventry were really good in both legs, and Sheffield will be just as strong.
"We’ll be prepared for the fixture, and we’ll fight until the end.
“Our focus is now fully on the final.
“It’s really clear — this is the main objective of the season.
"We have to take the final step. It will be tough, but we must put the work in now to make sure we’re ready.”
Press Conference: (Thursday 2pm - tbc)
tbd
Chris Wilder:
"It was a tough evening for us. It's something I've not really experienced before going into a game 3-0 up.
"It's a fabulous night for all concerned.
"Our attitude right the way through since the Burnley game [when their automatic promotion hopes ended] has been spot on.
"It was important to get through the first 20 minutes, when I didn't think our press was great and it allowed them to cause us some nervy moments.
"They've given it a right go. They've got some talented young players and they've been stretched by injuries and haven't got the biggest group, so it was a tough night for them but they gave it a go until the end.
"It looks a pretty straightforward two games but it hasn't been. The biggest thing was getting the job done which we have."

Form:

Head to Head:


Match Appointments:
Referee: CHRIS KAVANAGH
Assistant referees: Lee Betts and Neil Davis
Fourth official: Peter Bankes

Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, O’Nien, Ballard, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Le Fee, Mundle, Isidor, Mayenda

Subs: Moore, Hjelde, Mepham, Rigg, Browne, Samed, Jones, Roberts, Watson.
Injured: Danns, Abdullahi, Poveda, Huggins.

Sheffield United: (4-2-3-1) Cooper, Choudhury, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows, Brooks, Peck, Vinicius Souza, Hamer, Cannon, Moore.
Subs: A.Davies, Brewster, Campbell, T.Davies, Gilchrist, Holding, McCallum, O’Hare, Rak-Saki.
Injured: Arblaster, Brereton-Diaz



Betting Odds:
Sunderland 31/10 Sheffield United 10/4 Draw 16/5

My two pence:
A truly fantastic night at the Stadium of Light, finally saw us get one over on Coventry.
These lads never give up and once again we left it late to strike the killer blow - Til the end indeed.
Hopefully we play a bit more like we did in the opening games of the season, high press, quick passing and deadly finishing.
A huge thanks to the lads off here who sorted me for tickets
Hope to see as many of you great people at the Argyll Arms or near Wembley
I’m going for a 2-1 Sunderland win.

Live Stream:
Live on Sky Sports Football & Main Event from 14:00

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Ha’way the Lads

 

This Sheffield United fan is ****ting himself already

 

2-0 to the lads

Hhhaaa'wwwwaaaaayyyyyy the lads

 

Fantastic thread once again

A big thanks for them all this season - there’s been arguments, disagreements and a load of **** spoke on many but next Saturday we all want the same thing… PROMOTION

Ha’way the lads!!!

 

Biggest game in over a decade, since the league cup final against City. The prize for winning is transformative and it opens up so many avenues for future success.

Intrigued to see how RLB lines us up. I think he'll go unchanged and try to keep it tight before bringing on Mundle and Rigg around 70 minutes in. However, I'd go with;

Mayenda
Mundle ELF Rigg
Jobe Neil
Cirkin O'Nien Ballard Hume
Patterson

Really, really don't want to see Roberts starting or ELF playing wide. Especially on the big pitch at Wembley, neither of them have the pace to hurt Sheff Utd in wide areas. It's no coincidence that the £20m Ligue 1/Serie A player looks very good while playing central in the Championship, so play him there. Roberts starting would be like playing with 10, which is exactly what it was like for around 100minutes on Tuesday.

2-1 SAFC. Mayenda and Jobe.

Haway. 'Till the end.

 

Wahey, can finally say cheers for the season RTB, appreciate your efforts and looking forward to next seasons (hopefully with some premier league flair included!) And to the posters throughout the season, some ups, some downs but enjoyed reading through the lot and I’m sure we can all agree it’s been a lot better than last year!

My team:
Patto
Hume Ballard onien cirkin
Neil Jobe
Roberts Le fee Mundle
Mayenda

Yes I’d go with paddy. I will admit his attacking output is unacceptable, and he was really poor on the ball Tuesday (wasn’t the only one mind) but his defensive work with Hume is really unsung, coventrys goals came down the left as ELF couldn’t quite do enough with their rb (tried his best mind). Roberts worked his bollocks off imo and hamer has played left with sheff Utd I believe so could have a job of keeping man to man with him.

As well as that, I’d much rather Rigg as an option off the bench. He can come on rw, cam or lw. He can come on to change it to 4231 if we’re 442 or mundle can’t do 90, or can swap with Roberts if we need to go 442. Rigg can change the game for whatever changes we need at that time imo.

Nerves creeping in a touch now but excitement is massive. Let’s get back to the prem. Haway the lads! I’ll go 2-0, Hume and Mayenda

 

I’ve made some good money this season on backing some of our lads for a booking where I thought there was value (Hjelde and Jobe especially)

This weekend I’ll be looking for a Sheff United player to get booked Make it even sweeter.

 

Also, cheers @RTB for these. As someone who moved away a few years ago and doesn't post on social media, these threads are the closest thing to being in the pub talking ****e before and after the game. Keep me sane to be honest.

I hope the next competitive match thread you make is playing someone like Man Utd or Liverpool.

 

That’s exactly what I want, genuine big games week in week out. Also love the Saturday 17:30 kick off slot the PL has Atmosphere always so much better then

 

Robinson for sure

 

I don't mind the MNF games either, makes Monday at work so much easier

 

Good shout. Hamer the obvious one but he’ll be odds on

 

****s getting real

 

Interested what sheff u do too. Been playing 442 lately? Think we’ve got to be careful not to fall into trap Coventry did with us playing 442. Think RLB will move back to his 4231 even though 442 worked against these on NYD.

They’re favourites for sure but the gap isn’t too big for us to climb and if we play our best, I think we do it. RLB in the biggest games has always done well even when results haven’t fell our way. This might be his biggest test on Saturday on how to deal with these at Wembley.

 

Don’t have a clue how they’ll go. I don’t even think Wilder will know yet, they’ve got so many attacking options

 

Pitch is the same size as the SoL And Roberts was actually quite effective when we beat SU at home.

Main thing is their centre-backs were not at all happy with the speed of Mayenda and Isidor. So move the ball quickly, or even long balls over the top.

 

What you think on us mate? I don’t see us sticking 442. Wembley feels too big to carry it out and I think RLB will want more control in the middle.

 

It is, completely forgot about that. Believe that's why we were given the England v Australia game before Euro 2016.

Looks so much bigger though!

 

I’ve got an awful feeling he drops Mayenda and Isidor plays up top on his own

 

Really? Can’t see it, mayenda has been electric and can change a game on his own. I’m not convinced Isidor is 100% fit