Blackburn Rovers vs Sheffield United: EFL Cup Clash Preview
Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United step out at Ewood Park on Tuesday night with unbeaten records, early-season questions and the EFL Cup as a welcome proving ground.
Both have already dealt with League One opposition to get here. This is the first real measure against a peer.
Mowbray’s second act gathers pace
Blackburn arrive with a bit of a snarl about them again.
Tony Mowbray is back in the dugout, handed the job after Michael O'Neill dragged them over the survival line last season, and the early signs under the returning manager are encouraging. His second spell began with a dramatic EFL Cup tie at Burton Albion, where Blackburn trailed 1-0 heading into the final 10 minutes and looked on the brink of a flat start.
Then Andri Gudjohnsen struck. Jayden Fevrier followed with an 88th-minute winner. A routine cup trip instantly turned into a small statement of character.
The Championship schedule has not been kind, but Blackburn have handled it. They opened away to newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers and led before being pegged back by a late penalty in a 2-2 draw. On Saturday, they came from behind again to beat Middlesbrough, with Gudjohnsen on the scoresheet once more and Todd Cantwell turning the game in another second-half surge.
Four points from two difficult league fixtures, a cup win in the bank, and a team already showing a habit of finishing strongly. Mowbray now swings his focus back to the EFL Cup and the chance to plant Blackburn’s flag in the third round.
They will have to do it without several injured names. Moussa Baradji, Dion De Neve, Augustus Kargbo, Lewis Miller and Scott Wharton are all still sidelined. That will likely force a few tweaks, but not a complete overhaul.
Mowbray used a strong XI in the first round. This time he has earned the right to rotate. Fevrier, the late match-winner at Burton, is pushing for a first start of the season in attack, with Mathias Jorgensen also in line to come in. Hayden Carter and Jake Garrett are candidates to freshen up defence and midfield.
One man is hard to leave out. Gudjohnsen has scored in all three competitive fixtures so far and looks like the striker this side will lean on while confidence is high.
A possible Blackburn lineup: Toth; Alebiosu, Atcheson, Carter, Ribeiro; Garrett, Forshaw; Fevrier, Ohashi, Jorgensen; Gudjohnsen.
Wilder’s Blades are tight, but blunt
Sheffield United arrive with a very different kind of momentum.
Chris Wilder’s side opened their season with a clean, sharp 3-0 win away at Mansfield Town in the first round of the EFL Cup. Patrick Bamford, Mark McGuinness and Callum O'Hare all scored, and for one afternoon, it looked like a team ready to accelerate out of last season’s mid-table malaise.
Then the league began, and the story changed.
A 0-0 draw at home to Birmingham City. Another 0-0 away at Swansea City. Three games played in all competitions, three clean sheets, but only Mansfield breached. In the Championship, Sheffield United stand as the only team yet to score and one of just two to have kept two clean sheets.
The platform is there. The cutting edge is not.
Off the pitch, the mood is even more uneasy. Ownership concerns are growing at Bramall Lane and the threat of a potential points deduction hangs over the season like a cloud. Wilder has had to build a functional side while the noise around him gets louder.
He has already shown a willingness to adapt. For their second league game, Sheffield United switched to a 3-5-2, tightening the structure and leaning into their defensive strength. That shape could be used again at Ewood Park, with Matt Doherty, Jamal Baptiste and Rhys Norrington-Davies all options to rotate through the back line.
Kalvin Phillips is still not fit to feature, while Ryan One also missed the trip to Swansea through injury and remains a doubt. So the reshuffle will likely come from those already involved.
Jamie Shackleton and Jairo Riedewald are both pushing for first starts of the campaign in midfield. Up front, Tom Cannon, Romelle Donovan and Tyrese Campbell will all hope this cup tie is their chance to inject some life into a blunt attack, after O'Hare supported Bamford at the weekend.
A possible Sheffield United lineup: Cooper; Baptiste, McGuinness, Norrington-Davies; Doherty, Riedewald, Arblaster, Burrows; Donovan, Campbell, Cannon.
Cup tie with contrasting rhythms
Strip it back and the contrast is sharp.
Blackburn are scoring, conceding, and playing with a bit of chaos and belief. They have already pulled off two second-half turnarounds and look comfortable in a game that swings. Sheffield United are measured, controlled, and difficult to break down, but still searching for a spark in the final third against Championship opponents.
Both managers are likely to rotate, but neither can afford to treat this as a throwaway. Mowbray is trying to build a second-era identity. Wilder is trying to keep his side’s season on track amid off-field uncertainty and a toothless league start.
The pressure might just tell on the visitors. Blackburn’s form under Mowbray, the Ewood Park backdrop and Gudjohnsen’s streak tilt this tie slightly in the hosts’ favour.
Prediction: Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Sheffield United.
If that plays out, Blackburn’s revival gathers another layer, and Sheffield United’s biggest question lingers: who is going to score the goals to turn control into a promotion challenge?
