Newcastle United vs. Sheffield United – English Premier League, May 19, 2021

Newcastle faces Sheffield United on Wednesday, which might have been a crunch relegation clash had results gone a little differently in the last few months.

With the pressure off, both sides have put in some impressive performances recently – and this could turn out to be a good game.

Sheffield United didn’t win one of its first 17 EPL games this season and failed to get out of the bottom two at all, so it is not surprising that it is the underdog here. But, the Blades did win at the weekend and played with a little more freedom.

Still, Newcastle is always difficult to predict, so the odds for the draw or the away win should be considered.

After being tipped for relegation not that long ago, Newcastle have lost just three of the last 11 games and have taken points off Leicester, West Ham, Liverpool, and Spurs in that time. A disjointed team has pulled together and managed some impressive performances to make the end of the season a stress-free zone.

The seven-goal thriller against Manchester City on Sunday was a good example of how far the Newcastle side has come. The Magpies even led 3-2 at one point and were able to threaten an admittedly weakened City team. So there should be some hope of improvement next season – if the usual off-field distractions don’t get in the way as usual.

Sheffield United have known its fate for quite a while now, as it looked short of the talent needed to compete this season. But there was a win at Everton on Sunday that boded well for the future.

Not scoring goals have been just one problem for the Blades this season; they also have a problem conceding them. If the club has discovered a young striker that can do something about that, it could do well in the Championship next year. Blooding the younger players should be a tactic of interim manager Paul Heckingbottom now that the pressure is off.

Sheffield United have only scored more than one goal in a game on the one occasion this year – and generally hasn’t even managed that. But there might be a chance to change that on Wednesday, especially if Jebbison is given another chance to impress.

Newcastle have few goal scorers of their own, though, so a draw might be the result here.