Sheff Utd v Crawley: Blunt Blades set for not so magnificent seven

Sheffield United won’t be relishing the visit of Crawley Town in their League One clash on Friday night, but then again they hardly look forward to any match these days.

A sorry run of six straight league defeats during which they have scored just one goal leave David Weir’s men rock bottom of the third tier, in which they’ve been winless since the opening day of the season.

Understandably the former Everton and Rangers defender is under severe pressure from Blades fans following the less than stellar start to his managerial career, and it is simply impossible to back his 5/4 side with any confidence here.

The pleas for calm and for Weir to be given time by United’s co-chairmen Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah Bin Musa’ad are already falling on an increasing number of deaf ears in Yorkshire, and the visit of an in-form Crawley is unlikely to change that.

Now unbeaten in five, a win would see Richie Barker’s side catapulted into the League One play-off places.

Crawley look well-priced at 21/10 to deliver that victory too, especially given the good memories they’ll have from the 2-0 victory they recorded at Bramall Lane on the club’s first ever visit to the league’s oldest ground in April.

That win kicked off a run of 15 competitive matches in which Barker’s men haven’t failed to find the net, with the price of 9/2 for them to win to nil against Friday night’s goal-shy opponents certainly one to tempt.

The visitors are also 13/5 to simply keep a clean sheet in the contest with misfiring United, whose run of just one goal in their last 11 hours of competitive football could lead plenty towards backing Crawley to win with a -1 goal handicap at a hefty 6/1.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication