For rivalry and intensity, there are few things better than a Yorkshire derby. But one of those things would be a Premier League Yorkshire derby.
If the start to the season that Wolves have had is anything to go by, though, if we’re to see one in the top flight next season, one might have to go up via the playoffs (both if Huddersfield are relegated), but the first 13 games of the year have shown that both Leeds United and Sheffield United have claims to at least a top six finish come the end of the year.
We are early in the day as far as the Championship season is concerned, but we are already getting to the stage where some of the games coming up are imbued with a sense of importance and even tension. None more so than Friday night’s clash between two Yorkshire rivals from towns big enough to have a right to Premier League football, but who have both tasted spells in the third tier in recent times.
No more recent than Sheffield United, who could open up a seven point gap to Leeds if they were to win at Elland Road on Friday night.
After a difficult spell for Leeds, where they lost three in a row before last weekend’s emphatic victory over Bristol City, they can’t even catch their opponents with victory, and can only cut the gap to one point. It’s imperative, then, that Leeds get something from this game to stay in touch with the automatic promotion spots. And with four huge games in the next six fixtures after this one, I talked to Sam Rourke, Editor-in-Chief of Football League World, to ask if this truly is a must-win game for the Whites.
“It really is a game that Leeds United and Thomas Christiansen will be desperate for three points,” Rourke tells me, “but their season would not be over if they lost to the Blades. We see time and time again teams going on fantastic runs of form in the second half of the season – think back to 2012, when Reading were languishing lowly in the table but then won 17 of their last 23 games to go on and win the title, it can happen.”
“There is no denying that the Whites’ upcoming matches are testing, but last week Leeds travelled to Ashton Gate to face a high-flying Bristol City and they dominated the Robins from start to finish – and bear in mind, that victory was off the back of three consecutive league defeats.”
That puts into perspective a fact that that is often lost in the Championship: there are so many games. A four-point gap in the Premier League seems like a big margin, but in the Championship it feels slightly less, partly because of the potential for any side in the division to put on a winning run and partly because any team can beat any other. Indeed, when you have more games in which to start a streak or slip up, it happens more often.
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Perhaps, then, after looking good for a place in the play-offs all season just to come up short at the end, we’re expecting too much too soon from Leeds, who have only had a quarter of a season with a new manager, after all.
“They have become accustomed to high expectations,” says Rourke, “but it’s fair to say their start to the season took many by surprise. With an influx of unknown quantities from across Europe in the summer, the Whites are a very different side to the one we saw last season.
Many Leeds fans undoubtedly got ahead of themselves, and tough away defeats to Millwall and Cardiff quickly brought the Yorkshire outfit back down to earth. It’s cliché, but Christiansen needs to take one game at a time.”
The next one isn’t just a tough game against one of the few sides ahead of Christiansen’s men in the table, but also one with an emotion and an intensity they’ll have to be ready for. But if anyone had doubts about the quality that the newly-promoted Blades would bring to the division, the first quarter of the season has surely silenced them.
“Sheffield United have been sensational so far this season, and look like serious contenders for promotion already. Chris Wilder has instilled a real togetherness and harmonious mentality into the Blades, and they play for each other and the shirt they wear.”
“Having travelled to watch the Blades last week at Bramall Lane against Reading, I was shocked at how organised and disciplined they were. Though, more notably it was the evident desire, hunger and passion that they exhibited that really caught the eye. It’s so clear the Wilder demands 100% from every single player, every single game, and won’t settle for anything less.”
Bringing those two strands together, organisation and passion, is something that will stand any side in good stead in any division. Indeed, Huddersfield and Brighton are showing this season in the Premier League that even if your squad isn’t as good as the clubs around you, having both of those qualities at the same time can make up for more deficiencies than you’d expect.
For any newly-promoted side, that’s usually what they hope to get right in order quite simply to stay in the division and establish a foothold in the league. For Sheffield United, it could well end up leading to much more than that.
“The Blades have all the attributes to achieve promotion,” Rourke says, “and if they can keep this momentum going, they have an amazing chance. Wilder has created a fantastic spine to his Blades side, and they are incredibly hard to break down. It’s also imperative they keep their key players fit, the likes of Mark Duffy, Paul Coutts and John Fleck, who often don’t receive the plaudits they deserve, are so important to how the Blades operate.”
Against Leeds, though, they’ll be playing a side with more quality on paper, but as is the case with any game between local rivals, that doesn’t tend to matter so much. It’s the other side, the passion, which Wilder’s team evidently have in spades, that could be the most important factor.
“Elland Road will be rocking on Friday night in front of the Sky Sports cameras. The fact that it is third v fourth makes this encounter even more juicy. For me, this game will be decided on whoever wins the midfield battle – Leeds’ Ronaldo Viera, Eunan O’Kane and Kalvin Phillips will need to be on top of their game against Sheffield United’s Paul Coutts, John Fleck and Mark Duffy in the middle of the park.”
For all the organisation, the quality, and the Premier League aspirations on show, this one could rest on the old-fashioned derby factor; on passion and pride not necessarily a game of football. But for the Blades, this represents a chance to go seven points clear of their Yorkshire rivals, and for the Whites, a chance to get closer to the automatic promotion spots and get some momentum to take into some more headline games in the coming weeks.
That means there are added incentives for both sides on Friday night. And even in a league with so many sides from the region, this could end up being one of the most important as a Yorkshire derbies of the year.