Sheffield United v Manchester City - Head to Head

Manchester City travel the Snake Pass to Sheffield as the blues look to blunt the Blades at Bramhall Lane on Sunday. The two teams couldn’t have more contrasting forms at the start of the season, with City taking maximum points without conceding while United are yet to gain a point.

On paper, this is a straightforward City win, but football matches aren’t decided on paper and anything can happen on the day. For example, a stray balloon claiming an assist despite not being registered with the club (yes, that still grates on me).

Anyway, here’s our in-depth look at the stats and facts ahead of Sunday’s match.

A Long History Against The Blades

For a club with no history that were only formed in 2008, City seem to have faced Sheffield United a fair amount of times over the years. Sunday’s game will be the 65th time the blues and the Blades have met at Bramhall Lane. Their first meeting was in March 1893, with the Blades running out 2-1 winners.

At the time, City were known as Ardwick and six years later, they returned to South Yorkshire in their new guise as Manchester City. The Blades didn’t care much for the change of name and beat the blues 3-0. Those defeats were the first of 24 at United, while City have won 21.

Never A Shortage of Goals

Scoring goals has never been a problem for either side. Between them, they have managed to score 199, with United hitting 106 and City bagging 93. United’s tally were aided by their record win over the blues of 8-3, recorded in October 1925. They also beat City 5-0 (November 1901) and 5-3 (December 1903) in successive matches at Bramhall Lane. And, in February 1912, The Blades hammered the blues 6-2.

City’s biggest win at Bramhall Lane is 5-0, achieved in September 1924 and came close to repeating that feat in November 1932, recording a 5-2 win.

There have only ever been four goalless draws between these two in Sheffield, with the last one coming in November 1984. Before that was April 1951, with two successive stalemates coming in March 1914 and March 1915. In fact, City have kept just 13 clean sheets in South Yorkshire while failing to score 17 times.

Current Record

City have a good recent record at Bramhall Lane. Since losing three successive matches between November 1961 and April 1967, City have lost just five of their following 23 visits, including a seven match unbeaten run between January 1975 and January 1991. City have won the last four league matches at United by an aggregate score of 6-1.

Their last Football League meeting ended in a 4-2 defeat - Paul Lake’s brother Michael scoring in the first half as the Blades went 3-1 up at half-time. City tried in the second half but suffered defeat.

In the Premier League era, the two have met ten times, with City winning five and losing three.

August Blues For City?

City have visited Bramhall Lane three times in the month of August, losing two and winning one. Their first meeting was on 26th August 1922 when the blues lost 2-0. They had to wait until 30th August 1954 to win in this month and they did so with a 2-0 victory.

On 6th August 1974, City lost 4-2, however, that was in the now-defunct Texaco Cup so doesn’t really count!