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This is what the betting world thinks at the moment, and, as my old dad says "you never see a poor bookie"
"Slowly but surely, Sheffield United are losing touch with their Premier League aspirations and metamorphosising back into the average Championship side they were before promotion three years ago.
That might sound like a harsh assessment to make about a club that currently sits fourth in the table but now we are referring to a team minus James Beattie.
The former Everton striker was never going to stick around for long once it finally dawned on him that the Blades were unlikely to fulfil his desire of ever making it back into the top flight.
So after 34 goals in 62 games, it came as little surprise that he disappeared the moment Tony Pulis came calling with an instant opportunity to make a name at the highest level once again.
To put the potential impact of Beattie's departure into perspective, we need only look at the goal tally provided by the rest of Kevin Blackwell's strike force.
Billy Sharp is widely regarded as the hottest remaining property on the Bramall Lane books and after opening his account with a hat-trick against QPR in August, he has netted only one league goal since.
Meanwhile, Darius Henderson is just about the only person on the planet who believes United can maintain their ever-fading promotion challenge without Beattie and he did at least back up his own argument by scoring the winner at home to Norwich last Saturday.
However, that was only his second goal of the league campaign in a game where Blackwell was forced to lament the number of chances his team squandered against a team who have since sacked their manager.
Danny Webber completes the trio of rusty, misfiring forwards and his only league strike came against bottom-of-the-table Charlton during the festive period.
This weekend, both Henderson and Webber will be up against former employers Watford and the evidence suggests the Hornets will never get a better chance to take a big scalp this season.
The Hertfordshire club are faced with a battle against the drop but they have won four of their six home matches since Brendan Rodgers was unveiled as their new boss back in November and they have shown enough progress in recent weeks to merit an investment at 15/8"
"Slowly but surely, Sheffield United are losing touch with their Premier League aspirations and metamorphosising back into the average Championship side they were before promotion three years ago.
That might sound like a harsh assessment to make about a club that currently sits fourth in the table but now we are referring to a team minus James Beattie.
The former Everton striker was never going to stick around for long once it finally dawned on him that the Blades were unlikely to fulfil his desire of ever making it back into the top flight.
So after 34 goals in 62 games, it came as little surprise that he disappeared the moment Tony Pulis came calling with an instant opportunity to make a name at the highest level once again.
To put the potential impact of Beattie's departure into perspective, we need only look at the goal tally provided by the rest of Kevin Blackwell's strike force.
Billy Sharp is widely regarded as the hottest remaining property on the Bramall Lane books and after opening his account with a hat-trick against QPR in August, he has netted only one league goal since.
Meanwhile, Darius Henderson is just about the only person on the planet who believes United can maintain their ever-fading promotion challenge without Beattie and he did at least back up his own argument by scoring the winner at home to Norwich last Saturday.
However, that was only his second goal of the league campaign in a game where Blackwell was forced to lament the number of chances his team squandered against a team who have since sacked their manager.
Danny Webber completes the trio of rusty, misfiring forwards and his only league strike came against bottom-of-the-table Charlton during the festive period.
This weekend, both Henderson and Webber will be up against former employers Watford and the evidence suggests the Hornets will never get a better chance to take a big scalp this season.
The Hertfordshire club are faced with a battle against the drop but they have won four of their six home matches since Brendan Rodgers was unveiled as their new boss back in November and they have shown enough progress in recent weeks to merit an investment at 15/8"
