Sending them out to win, at Sheffield United and some match facts

Defeat works tonight. We could send the U18's if the manager wanted to rest players. We wont lose ground on anyone below us and we'll still have a game in hand on Arsenal, so it really doesn't matter if we win or lose.

Now, I'm not saying I want us to lose. I want us to win. But whenever we've had one of these opportunities of late and maybe it just feels this way, we've not taken it. And when we've not taken it, because things have been okay around us, it hasn't really bothered anyone.

Well, I want it to bother people. Sheffield United are bottom of the table with 11 points and we should be winning tonight. Tonight is one of those opportunities. After tonight we have no games in hand on Spurs so three points would be perfect. You could argue that one would take us above them, but one would also mean we're three points behind Everton above us with no games in hand.

Tonight we need to win and you could take Jack, Mings and Watkins out and we should win. There can be no excuses and so it comes down to the manager and seeing if he sends them out to win. I'll be watching and I'll be back later, but for some reason, I've got to join a workshop so need to rush this morning. Stats below. Up the Villa. And competition coming up ahead of the weekend. Stay tuned.

Match facts from the BBC

Head-to-head

• Villa could do the league double over the Blades for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
• Sheffield United have won only one of the nine Premier League meetings (D2, L6).

Sheffield United

• Sheffield United have lost four successive league matches, failing to score in the last three.
• They are the first English team in history to lose as many as 21 of their opening 26 top-flight fixtures in a season.
• The Blades have lost 10 home league games this season. Only once have they lost more: 11 in 2010-11 in the Championship.
• Fourteen of Sheffield United's 21 Premier League defeats this season have been by a single-goal margin - one more would equal the Premier League record.
• Sheffield United have won their past two Premier League games played on a Wednesday.
• Billy Sharp has scored in five of his past eight home appearances in all competitions, including in each of his last three starts at Bramall Lane.

Aston Villa

• Aston Villa are three away games unbeaten in the league, keeping clean sheets in all three (W2, D1).
• Villa have kept an unrivalled eight away clean sheets in the Premier League in 2020-21. A ninth would set a club top-flight record for a single season.
• They didn't concede a goal in 11 of their 12 Premier League wins so far this season.
• Villa have 39 points - more than at this stage in each of their previous four Premier League seasons.
• Dean Smith's side have failed to score more than once in any of their past six league matches but have still amassed 10 points during that period.
• Villa have lost their last three Premier League games played on a Wednesday, all of which came in consecutive weeks between 20 January and 3 February.