Manchester United will endeavour to claim back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time this season when they travel to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United on Saturday evening.
While the hosts are rooted to the foot of the table following a winless start to the campaign, the visitors are languishing in 10th place and already find themselves eight points behind the summit.
The Blades were condemned to their seventh league loss of the campaign by Fulham before the international break, losing 3-1 at Craven Cottage, although the defeat was marred by the gruesome lower-leg injury sustained to Chris Basham, who is facing a significant period on the sidelines after undergoing two separate operations.
No team promoted to the Premier League have ever had a worse start than Sheffield United at this stage, and defeat on Saturday would see them become the first club in English top-flight history to claim just one point or fewer from their opening nine matches of multiple seasons, after doing so in 2020-21. Nevertheless, Paul Heckingbottom has encouraged his players to "enjoy" their Premier League survival battle and 'enjoy the problems' that top-flight football can pose.
Despite their poor start, Sheffield United are only three points adrift of safety, but improvements in defence are required if they are to end their miserable run, as they have conceded a league-high 22 goals across their first eight games, shipping two or more goals in each of their last seven.
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