If I was looking at this as a neutral I'd have to say that I'd expect Wednesday to win this one, by a narrow margin.
There are several reasons why I'd think that:
- They have spent much more money on the squad than United - which suggests they have better quality players. Certainly, most of their players have experience of playing at a higher level than our and are "big names" in some cases. A significant number of the United players are "lower league" players and comparatively unknown.
- They have consistently shown over the past two seasons that they are one of the top teams at this level and have come very close to getting promotion. Whereas, United have been a division below and although they've started well it's too early to know whether they can really adapt with this set of players to life in the Championship.
- They will have "home advantage" and the majority of the crowd cheering them on.
- United are reportedly having "issues" and last week did not have one fit striker on the pitch.
But I'm not a neutral of course, I'm a Blade and so I look at it this way...
Despite spunkin loadsa monneh on big name has beens from the higher divisions they are still doing no better than us in the league up to now. Just because you pay a lot of money for a player doesn't mean that player is a better player than someone less expensive. This is a fundamental misunderstanding that most Wednesdayites seem to suffer from.
Coming close to promotion two seasons in a row doesn't mean that promotion is inevitable 3rd time around. Rather, there are many examples of teams who've been knocking on the door of promotion one season and fell out the bottom of that league the season after. Sheffield United for example. Not that I'm saying Wednesday will be relegated, I'm not, but I'm saying you can't just assume that they will be an automatic choice in the top 6 this season. They however, have a different view to this. They think it's inevitable that they are Top 6 minimum and the target is Top 2. So...it's not surprising they fully expect to beat our little outfit of upstarts. They must see us as a pesky annoyance that needs to be swept aside. But it isn't quite as easy as that!
They will have the majority of the crowd cheering them on - but if United start playing them off the park, which we are capable of, they'll have the majority of the crowd on their back - or silent!
United will have at least two fit strikers to choose from this week. My guess is Clarke and Sharp - with Donaldson on the bench. That should be enough for starters!
I think it will be a good game that ebbs and flows between the two teams with neither coming out on top in the end. 1-1.
