Sheffield United v West Ham: Back both Blades and Hammers to strike

• Blades have scored in 7/10 at home in PL

• Hammers out of FA Cup but in PL's top six

• Goals the key to 1.8910/11 headline selection

Sheffield United v West Ham
Sunday 21 January, 14:00
Live on Sky Sports

Wilder trying to find answers for beloved Blades

They say you should never go back, but Chris Wilder clearly found the lure of his hometown club Sheffield United too strong to resist. Having lifted the Blades into the top flight during his previous spell - before they were relegated and promoted again under different management - he now has to try to keep them at this level. But the squad is arguably worse than the one that won promotion last term.

Wilder has managed to get some impressive displays out of his charges. United were competitive in 2-0 defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City, they beat Brentford 1-0 at Bramall Lane, and they were moments away from winning at Aston Villa before conceding a last-gasp leveller. To put that into context, Villa had previously won 15 straight Premier League games at Villa Park.

However, those performances were in contrast with a damaging and eminently avoidable 3-2 home defeat to relegation rivals Luton Town. United were 2-1 up with 13 minutes left, but conceded two own goals to lose the game, with Wilder blaming a panicking defence that retreated too much.

Sheffield United are rock-bottom, with just nine points from 20 games, but in this unusual season, all is not lost. It's not clear whether Everton and Nottingham Forest will be deducted points for financial misconduct (Everton already have been docked 10 points), so Sheffield United must concentrate on catching the likes of Luton and Burnley.

John Egan, Max Lowe and Chris Basham are all definitely out, whole a host of other players are hoping to shake off knocks. Anis Ben Slimane and Yasser Larouci are away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Moyes enraged by FA Cup exit

After seeing his side dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship side Bristol City, West Ham manager David Moyes seethed at the lack of VAR available (the tech can only be used at Premier League grounds for licensing reasons), but he admitted his side hadn't done enough to progress. Indeed, over two games, the Hammers scored just one goal against a team that is in the bottom half of the second tier.

However, things are still tending towards Moyes signing a new contract soon, and the Glaswegian has led West Ham to eye-catching recent wins against Arsenal and Manchester United. The East London side are in the top six of the Premier League, they have lost just six of their 20 top-flight matches, and they have qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League as group winners.

Having won six of their last 10 matches in the Premier League, the Irons find themselves above Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton, and given their recent European exploits (they reached the Europa League semi-finals, and then won last season's Europa Conference League), it's fair to say that Moyes has overseen something of a golden era at the London Stadium.

Ahead of this trip to Yorkshire, Moyes has some absentees to cover for. Lucas Paqueta is injured, Jarrod Bowen is racing to be fit, while Nayef Aguerd and Mohammed Kudus are away at AFCON.

Absentees have pushed up Hammers' price

West Ham were around evens to take the win initially, and I'd have opposed them at that price, but the absence of key players have seen their price in the Match Odds market expand to 2.285/4, and I can't be laying at that price.

However, the way I will favour Sheffield United is to back Both Teams To Score at 1.8910/11. If you look at the Blades' home games this term in the league, they have found the net in seven of their 10 outings, including in games against Manchester City and Manchester United.

West Ham have kept four straight clean sheets in the league, but three of those were at home, and in their last 14 away games in the Premier League their recent 2-0 win at Arsenal provided the only clean sheet.

I think Both Teams To Score is attractively priced here at 1.8910/11.

Backing JWP will be AOK

Given some of the key players missing for West Ham, the onus might be on the absurdly talented James Ward-Prowse to come up with something special. The set-piece king has had a shot on target in four of his last six appearances in the Premier League, and it's worth bearing in mind that Sheffield United have given up the most shots on target in the entire division.

At 6/52.20, Ward-Prowse seems a decent price to hit the target, not least because of his prowess at free-kicks.

Now read Kev's Bundesliga column here!