[Alouion]

And so to our last match under the lights in 2018, which may well conjure up a few memories for our head coach.  Albion's visits to Bramall Lane have been few and far between since the fateful day in 2002 when Warnock delivered the farce for which he'll forever be remembered, and the two games we've played up there - the most recent now nine years ago - have had a real edge to them.  But Big Dave proved in '02 that he could keep his head in a tense situation, and it's up to him to do the same again on Friday night.

This is another tough game in a December schedule full of them, and while most would probably be tempted to settle for a point, the back-to-back draws against Brentford and Villa have allowed the top two to pull away from us.  We're not in dire need of a win, but the larger that gap gets, the more pressure we're under to deliver a lengthy winning streak at some point, unless we're already resigned to settling for the playoffs.

We're showing signs of becoming more adept at counter-attacking, especially on the road, so here's hoping that this battle at Bramall Lane will be memorable for all the right reasons.

A result against United could be 11 Albion players leaving the pitch and fit for selection the following week. I saw the Sheffield Leeds match recently and Sheffield should have had at least 2 players sent off. For once Leeds were the innocent parties.