Key events
The other game finished 4-2 to Blackburn, so they are top of the Championship until at least tomorrow. Sheffield United are second, with one point, on account of that pesky deduction. Preston are bottom, just below Derby on goals scored.
FULL TIME! Preston 0-2 Sheffield United
And that is that. Sheffield United have wiped out their two-point deficit with two goals – a jammy one from Ollie Arblaster and a delicious chip from Gustavo Hamer. They’ve managed to rip up the script from last season, when they won only three league games. For Preston, it’s the same old story: a sixth successive defeat, and a sixth successive blank – the first time that has happened since 1960.
90+3 min Nothing doing for Preston. Sheffield United, sniffing a third, piece together a flowing move that culminates in a blast from Arblaster.
90 min Back at Deepdale, we will have six added minutes, most of them caused by substitutions. The latest sub is Sydie Peck, replacing Callum O’Hare, who was one of the men of the match – so busy and inventive.
It’s raining goals in Blackburn. Derby get one back, through Kane Wilson, to make it 4-2.
And another goal at Ewood Park. Blackburn get their fourth through Yuki Ohashi. They will be top of the table tonight, with Sheffield United almost certain to be second – on one point, after having two deducted.
86 min Another Preston sub: Robbie Brady replaced by Kian Best, who is only 18.
84 min Frøkjaer-Jensen finds space on the right and sends a cross in – or rather out, as it loops over the bar. That rather sums up Preston’s night.
It’s all happening in the other game. Derby drew level through Curtis Nelson, whereupon Blackburn scored twice – Andreas Weimann and Sammie Szmodics, who can’t stop scoring even when he’s coming off the bench. So it’s Blackburn 3-1 Derby.
79 min Sheffield United win the ball in their own half and launch it forward to Moore, whose hold-up play is so strong that the man marking him, Liam Lindsay, can only pull him to the ground. That may be the first yellow card of the game.
78 min Ain’t nothing happening but the subs. The latest one is Rhian Brewster, replacing André Brooks, who was creative.
74 min And another sub for Preston. Stefan Thordarson, who also did well on debut, gives way to Mads Frøkjaer-Jensen.
73 min The first subs from Chris Wilder: Femi Seriki replaces Alfie Gilchrist, who made a bright debut, and Ben Slimane comes on for Gustavo Hamer, whose goal was the moment of the match so far.
70 min Kieffer Moore has a big chance after some good work from André Brooks on the right. He’s six yards out, in the middle. and I can’t work out why it’s not 3-0.
69 min Glimmers for Preston… First Kesler-Hayden, on loan from Villa, whips in a cross from the right. Then Potts draws a save with a powerful shot after being ushered in by Hamer.
66 min Ryan Lowe reacts to the second goal by taking off both his inside forwards, Will Keane and Sam Greenwood. On come Milutin Osmajic and Kaine Kesler-Hayden, and it looks as if Preston have gone to 4-4-2.
65 min A flurry of subs. Details in a minute!
62 min It’s been a game of one half, which has taken place twice. Just as they did after the first goal, Sheffield United grow in confidence before our eyes. Hamer has another chance but can’t find the same composure and ends up passing when he should have pulled the trigger.
GOAL! Preston 0-2 Sheffield United (Hamer 55)
There is the second! And it’s not Moore and O’Hare – it’s Gustavo Hamer and the Preston keeper, Freddie Woodman. His throw went straight to Hamer, who replied with a neat first touch and a beautiful chip.
52 min Chance for Sheffield United! Moore, slipped in by O’Hare, hits the side netting from the corner of the box. That’s the combination that looks most likely to bring a second goal.
49 min Chance for Preston! Whatmough seizes on a loose ball and thumps in a shot. This game is finally coming to the boil.
49 min Chance for Sheffield United! Gilchrist does well down the right, showing grit to win the ball and flair to cross it. He finds Kieffer Moore, whose snap shot is well over the bar.
47 min Chance for Preston! Their best one yet, as Sam Greenwood slips into the inside-right channel. He has time to pick his spot, but skews the shot wide.
Just the one goal at Ewood Park, too. Blackburn lead Derby 1-0 through a curled shot from Tyrhys Dolan.
Half-time! Preston 0-1 Sheffield United
45+2 min Sheffield United take their lead into the break. Ollie Arblaster’s first goal for them was a lucky one, taking a horrible deflection, but it wasn’t really against the run of play. They’ve been the better team, attacking with pace and purpose, whereas Preston have had a lot of rather anodyne possession.
45 min Sheffield United finally get forward. First Gustavo Hamer takes too long to carve out an opening, then Vinicius Souza does the opposite, rushing a shot that ends up wide enough for the home fans to laugh at him.
43 min The place is still buzzing, but the game has gone to sleep as Shefiield United’s back four pass the ball around in their own half.
41 min Andy Walker, who has dished out more blame than praise, makes an exception for Kieffer Moore. “Brilliant header there.” And it was a defensive one, from a Preston corner.
39 min Another chance for Preston: Thordarson does well, playing a perpendicular pass to Riis. He lays it off for Potts, whose shot from the right is well blocked.
36 min A half-chance for Sheffield United as Jack Robinson, their new captain, sends in a long throw. The ball falls invitingly at the feet of Gustavo Hamer, but his shot from the edge of the box is wide.
34 min Chance for Preston! As the ball bobbles about in the box, Riis does well to pull it down but less well with his shot, which is tame and straight at the keeper.
30 min As the half-hour mark approaches, a Preston midfielder sends a long ball forward that is nowhere near a team-mate. “No quality at all,” says Andy Walker.
28 min Thordarson has a go from distance. It;’s not a bad shot, combining ferocity and finesse, but it goes wide. The Sky commentator reminds us that Thordarson has a Wembley winner on his CV – for Iceland against England, just before the Euros.
27 min Brad Potts, under pressure as Sheffield United break, goes down and puts his hand on the ball. Luckily the ref agrees with him and gives a foul.
23 min There’s also been a goal in the other Championship game, just up the road, but it’s from the home side: Blackburn 1-0 Derby (Dolan 18). A curler, apparently.
22 min Preston didn’t score in their last five games of 2023-24, and they badly need a goal now. Their passing looks fine, with some neat triangles, especially on the left. But there hasn’t been much sign of that elusive end product.
19 min Callum O’Hare, signed on a free from Coventry, dances into the middle of the Preston box, but he takes too long to make a decision and a good tackle comes in.
16 min The goal hasn’t silenced the home crowd, but it has given Sheffield United a boost. They’re now knocking the ball around with a bit of a swagger.
13 min It’s Ollie Arblaster’s first goal for Sheffield United, to go with two for Port Vale. He looks half chuffed and half abashed.
GOAL! Preston 0-1 Sheffield Utd (Arblaster 12)
Well. A good move, a so-so shot, a big deflection … and Sheffield United are ahead.
9 min The first corner goes to Sheffield United, rather questionably. Justice is done as Will Keane heads it away smoothly at the near post.
8 min The atmosphere at Deepdale is rocking. It’s almost as if everybody spent the last three months missing club football.
6 min A shot for Emil Riis as Preston begin to see a lot of the ball. Sheffield United look as if they may not mind that.
2 min Preston get into the box – a long free kick from the keeper, a header, but no danger. Sheffield United storm up the other end and get the ball in the net! It’s Kieffer Moore, finishing crisply from the left, but the flag had gone up.
The teams are out there, Preston in white with navy shorts, Sheffield United in black shirts and green shorts. And it’ll be Vinicius Souza to get the season under way.
And the Olympic men’s football gold goes to …
Spain! They’ve just beaten France 5-3 after extra time. According to the great Rob Smyth, it was “a wildly entertaining game”.
Teams in full
Preston (probable 3-4-2-1) Woodman; Hughes, Lindsay, Whatmough; Potts, Whiteman, Thordarson, Brady; Greenwood, Keane: Riis.
Subs: Cornell, Best, Theo Mawene, Kesler-Hayden, Osmajic, Holmes, Ledson, Storey, Frokjaer-Jensen.
Sheffield United (probable 4-2-3-1) Adam Davies; Gilchrist, Robinson, Ahmedhodzic, Burrows; Souza, Arblaster; O’Hare, Hamer, Brooks; Moore.
Subs: Grbic, Peck, Seriki, Marsh, Ben Slimane, Trusty, Souttar, Brewster, Coulibaly.
Referee Robert Madley.
Teams in brief: Sheffield United
Chris Wilder pulls out a shiny new pair of full-backs. On the right: Alfie Gilchrist, just signed on loan from Chelsea, with 11 Premier League appearances in his back pocket. On the left: Harrison Burrows, bought from Peterborough. He hasn’t played in the Prem, but he has scored twice at Wembley – in the same game.
Teams in brief: Preston
When you’ve only purchased one player, you’d probably better play him. Stefan Teitur Thordarson, born in Iceland, bought from Denmark, makes his debut tonight in the Preston midfield.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to … the new football season. It’s 2024-25, which has a ring to it, don’t you think? Let’s hope it’s as hard to predict as 1974-75, when Everton slipped on a series of banana skins, Liverpool stumbled, Derby squeezed past them both to win the league, and the second-division champions were Manchester United, hotly pursued by Aston Villa.
Back then Sheffield United were the sixth-best team in the land. Now they’re not just back in the second tier, they’re bottom of it. They start the season on minus two points after being penalised for defaulting on payments last time they found themselves at this level. So the good news is the only way is up. If they win at Preston tonight, and Derby manage a draw at Blackburn, United will go all the way from the bottom to the top (on goal difference).
You know how football clubs these days fork out colossal sums for questionable assets? Well, these two clubs may be the last of the small spenders. According to Transfermarkt, Preston have forked out just £710,000 over the summer. They blew the lot on Stefan Teitur Thordarson, a regular in central midfield for Iceland.
As the manager at Deepdale, Ryan Lowe has been unspectacular but steady, steering this grand old club to 13th, 12th and 10th in the Championship, to make it nine successive years of frustrating respectability – always in the top 13, never making the play-off places. After two years and eight months in charge, Lowe is now the second-longest-serving boss in the division, behind Mark Robins of Coventry. But he may not be sitting all that comfortably after finishing last season with five defeats.
At Bramall Lane Chris Wilder knows how to win promotion from this tier, but has had his hands tied with Sheffield United up for sale. He has let 16 players go, including some great servants such as Oli McBurnie and Oliver Norwood, and has brought in six others at a cost of £4.5m.
Two-thirds of that went on a bright young left-back from Peterborough, Harrison Burrows, and the rest on a senior citizen from Bournemouth, Kieffer Moore, who looks a shrewd buy as he’s just helped Ipswich go up to the Premier League. But, after receiving a parachute payment that is believed to be £43m, Sheffield United are either saving up for a rainy day or planning a late swoop for Raheem Sterling.
Kick-off in both games is at 8pm (UK time). I’ll be live-blogging the one and keeping an eye on the other. Back soon with the teams – in the meantime, do settle down with Louise Taylor’s expert guide to the Championship.