Sheffield United vs. Crystal Palace – English Premier League, May 8, 2021

Anything could happen in a game where no result will have any bearing on the league table. Sheffield United is already relegated, and there is very little chance that Palace will join the Blades in the bottom three.

That might allow both teams to play with a sense of freedom. But after such a long and grueling season, it may just turn out to be 90 minutes of both sides going through the motions.

At this stage of the season you should really be looking at which team has more incentive to go out to win a game.

Neither of these seems to have the need for points but I think Sheffield United’s players will be more likely to put some effort in. That makes the pricing of the fixture interesting, as the home side is the slight underdog here.

After relegation was confirmed a few weeks ago, Sheffield United went out and recorded just its fifth win of the season against Brighton. But if anyone thought that the result would kick-start a glorious end to the campaign, the 4-0 defeat at the hands of Spurs last week would have made you think again.

Sheffield United couldn’t handle the fluid movements of the Spurs players – and Gareth Bale in particular. But Crystal Palace does not have the same kind of player in its ranks – and that might give the Blades some confidence of adding a few more points to their meager total this season.

What Palace can do is defend, though. Roy Hodgson set up his team to frustrate Manchester City last weekend and would have been very pleased with the 0-0 scoreline at the break. The game was over within 15 minutes of the restart, though, as City scored two quick goals and never really looked like relinquishing its lead after that.

Palace never looked like scoring either.

A lack of a goal threat could have an effect on this game at the weekend, too.

Sheffield United has only scored eighteen goals all season – and just once in the last four games – so I am not expecting a thrilling day at Brammall Lane on Saturday. But Palace can be even more shot-shy at times and the desire to go down with a little pride intact makes me think that the home side might be able to pick up a rare win this weekend.