Watch Sheffield United vs West Brom on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Friday
Thursday 13 December 2018 16:16, UK
Manager Chris Wilder hopes Sheffield United can overcome a "formidable" West Brom team and insists his side must be at their "very, very best" on Friday night to beat them.
Wilder's side are third in the Sky Bet Championship heading into the contest at Bramall Lane - live on Sky Sports Football - and find themselves one point and two places above West Brom.
The Blades lost 1-0 to Leeds United in their last home fixture and with Albion unbeaten in their last five matches, Wilder knows how difficult it will be to get a result against Darren Moore's side.
"We're going to have to play well on Friday night because when you look at the group of players they've got, especially at the top of the pitch, they're an outstanding group," Wilder said.
"Darren [Moore] I know really well. I played with him and he bullied me for a couple of years playing next to him, but he's a great guy and he did fantastically well in the Premier League to win those games.
"Obviously it's not easy for those teams that get relegated to readjust to life in the Championship, but I should imagine they'll be delighted with their position and they'll be one of the favourites to go up automatically.
"It's a great game for us, one we're looking forward to and hopefully we can produce a big result as well as a good performance.
"They're quite a formidable outfit and it's a challenge we're looking to overcome, but we've got to be at our very, very best to get a result."
Sheffield United come into the game off the back of a 2-0 win at struggling Reading. The Blades are six points behind leaders Norwich and, although delighted with his side's place in the table, Wilder is refusing to get carried away.
"Our position in the league is great and being ahead of some huge, powerful clubs in this division is a great achievement, but obviously it's not even the halfway point in the season," Wilder added.
"What we have done is give ourselves a great platform to kick on in the second part of the season.
"We've progressed and improved. We've had bumps in the road but we've got over them pretty quickly. It's a healthy points total after this amount of games and it gives us a platform to move forward.
"Players are playing well individually, the team's generally playing well, but there's a lot of work to be done in the second part of the season and a lot of football to be played."
