As we approach December, the Championship schedule gets busy for those at the top of the table, including Sheffield United and Leeds United.
Leeds moved to the top of the table after Sunday’s win against Swansea City, but the promotion race is such that they fell to fourth place on Tuesday night.
Wins for Sheffield United and Burnley and a draw for Sunderland mean the trio have overtaken Leeds – but a chance to go two clear of third comes against Luton Town tonight.
The Blades got back to winning ways and beat Leeds on Tuesday when they won at home to Oxford United.
Goals from Callum O’Hara, Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi secured the three points for Chris Wilder’s side, handily extending the South Yorkshire outfit’s goal difference.
Next up for the Blades is a tough clash against Sunderland at Bramall Lane, with Leeds no doubt watching, knowing at least one side will drop points.
Three games in six days is a less than ideal development for any side, but Wilder is particularly unhappy with how he has to deal with it at a crucial stage of the season.
With the Black Cats next up at the Lane, Wilder was furious to score such a close turnaround (via Star):
“The schedule is ridiculous. And I understand the teams that people want to see or are in and around the top four or five will be shown, but we’re going from Saturday to Tuesday, Friday night again.
“I look at everyone else’s games and there’s maybe only one or two that have a turn of events that we have to deal with. It’s not ideal, it’s not ideal for Sunderland and it’s not ideal for us, but we’ll deal with it.”
Three games in six days for the Blades and Sunderland is the same schedule Leeds deal with – playing a day later on Sunday, Wednesday and then away to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
This is the stage of the season where you start to see the benefits of real squad depth for your starting lineup.
Sunderland, trailing five on the bounce with key failures hampering their attack, is a real concern for them and while the Blades run their squad very well, time will tell.
If we can climb off the top of the table with two more wins this week, Farke should be hoping to start producing something similar.