Wilder hopes to have injured players back for Lincoln City clash

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder is hopeful of having almost all of his injured players back for Saturday’s Championship clash with Lincoln City.

The Blades have been dealing with a number of fitness problems in the opening weeks of the season, with Harrison Burrows, Ryan One, Femi Seriki and Sam McCallum all sidelined.

Wilder says he is “absolutely certain” that three of the four will be available for the visit of Lincoln, with the extended international break helping their recoveries.

“Hopefully, we’ll have the full quartet of players back for the Lincoln game,” Wilder said.

“I’m absolutely certain three out of the four will be available, which is good.”

Tahith Chong had already returned before the break, while Seriki has not featured since August and has been the longest-term absence of the group.

Wilder admitted, however, that the returning players are unlikely to be ready to start immediately after lengthy spells out.

“Not really, when they’ve been out for eight weeks and they’ve had no football,” he said.

“So, that’s the downside of the players being injured or any player being injured, that he loses match minutes straight away.”

The Blades boss believes the longer international break has given the injured players a better chance of returning in time.

“If we hadn’t have had that, then maybe one or two out of the four wouldn’t be available for the weekend,” he added.