City haven’t beaten the Blades on home soil since February 2018
Boss Sergej Jakirovic says it’s time to end the MKM Stadium curse against Sheffield United, and hopes the former Blades contingent in his squad can play their part. City have lost the last four Yorkshire derbies against the Blades on their home patch, and will be desperate to end that run of form in Saturday’s early kick-off in front of the television cameras, though the Tigers did win 3-0 at Bramall Lane in January. Jakirovic will have former United players Oli McBurnie, John Egan, John Lundstram and Regan Slater at his disposal, while sporting director Jared Dublin knows the Blades well, having spent five years at Bramall Lane, though all eyes will be on in-form frontman McBurnie, given his terrific form and Chris Wilder’s revelation about him signing for City in the summer. The Tigers will go into their final outing before the international break in good heart after a stirring fightback against Preston North End on Tuesday night, with ex-Blade McBurnie netting twice to take his tally to seven in the early weeks of the season, coupled with three assists. United, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the table and have lost two of three games since Chris Wilder returned as manager, replacing the sacked ex-Tigers chief Ruben Selles. Tuesday night’s home loss to Southampton was their seventh in the first eight games, and Wilder was sent off for an incident after the half-time whistle, meaning he will not be on the MKM Stadium touch line, though he planned to appeal that decision, which could delay any potential suspension and see him on the touchline. Should a third home victory in their opening six outings come their way, Jakirovic says it would represent a very good period since the last international break, with their loss at Watford the only blot on their copybook.
“So it’s also an advantage for us because I will have a lot of information,” Jakirovic told Hull Live. “We have to use this. You know, when it’s the first whistle, they start to play, it’s everything on the pitch, on the players, so we will try.
“I saw Chris Wilder sent off. This is a little bit funny because he didn’t do that deliberately. Perhaps in my country, it would be just a yellow card, but that’s okay. It’s not the same if you are not in the technical space and you are in the stands. It’s not the same, but also from the stands you can see everything.
“We need to break the curse (against United at the MKM). It will be a massive job for us, especially. If I’m looking, when we start after the national break, if we succeed to win this game. It will be a perfect September for us, even if it’s October already.”
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