Leeds United and Sheffield United are set to clash at Bramall Lane on Monday in a top-of-the-table Championship clash. The Whites have a two-point lead over the Blades and are the favourites to earn automatic promotion to the Premier League. However, Sheffield United have kept pace with Leeds and have a chance to go to the top of the table if they get a win next week. Chris Wilder has been playing mind games on Leeds for months but ahead of the game, he is further ramping up the heat. He wants one Leeds player to feel the pressure when visiting Sheffield on Monday night.
Daniel Farke has been keen to ensure that his players remain focused on the job at hand and do not get too carried away by the thought of an impending promotion to the Premier League.
The Leeds boss has insisted that there is still some way to go but conceded that 20 more points from their remaining should get the job done for his side.
Leeds have a big game next week when they travel to Sheffield United and a good result at Bramall Lane will take them another step closer to ensuring automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Chris Wilder has been trying to play mind games with Leeds ahead of the big game and his attempts to apply more pressure on the Whites have ramped up this week.
The Sheffield United boss has already anointed Leeds the probable champions but ahead of next week’s big clash, he wants one Whites star to feel some extra pressure.
“He’s an opposition player” – Chris Wilder warns Jayden Bogle
Leeds snared Bogle away from Sheffield United last summer and the right-back has been one of the key players who have propelled the Whites to the top.
He has been the best right-back in the Championship this season and Wilder has never minced his words about not wanting to lose him to Leeds last year.
The Sheffield United boss stressed that he didn’t want to sell Bogle last summer and would have preferred to build his team around him this season.
Wilder does not have any hard feelings towards the former Blade but admitted that on Monday night he will be an opposition player at Bramall Lane and will be treated that way.
“He was outstanding, and he’s a great kid. He had an opportunity to go to a top club”, Wilder told the Sheffield Star.
“I don’t think we should have sold him, if I’m being perfectly honest. But that decision was not my decision. I want to build and keep our best players and build around them.
“Jayden was one of our best players last season, without a doubt.
“And I’d have liked to have built around him. But it didn’t happen, for one reason or the other, and he’s gone on and moved on and had an outstanding season. I’ll shake his hand before, I’ll shake his hand after but in between, he’s an opposition player.
“And it’s game on.”
Wilder wants Bogle under the pressure at Bramall Lane
It remains to be seen what kind of reception Bogle gets from the Sheffield United faithful on Monday night but it is clear Wilder was not keen to lose him.
Apart from the disappointment of watching him do well at Leeds, Wilder also realises that the right-back is a key part of the way the Whites play their football.
Bogle is already under the pressure of not picking up another yellow card as it would lead to him getting suspended for two games for accumulating too many bookings.
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Wilder wants the right-back to be under more pressure on his return to Bramall Lane and feel the heat of playing in front of fans who have unlikely forgiven him for joining Leeds.
Bogle has been in the game for too long to understand that all eyes will be on him when he takes the pitch against his former side in Sheffield on Monday night.
Leeds fans hope that the defender keeps his mind clear and focuses on the game rather than the occasion of his return to Bramall Lane since leaving the Blades last summer.
