‘I would be very surprised if they do not win the division’ - Blades’ chief Wilder admits title is in City’s grasp

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder concedes Norwich City look champions-elect.

Wilder feels Daniel Farke’s Canaries are now odds on to claim the title, after an eight-match winning league run opened up a seven-point gap on his club.

The Blades’ boss is more worried about fending off Yorkshire foes Leeds United to claim the second automatic spot. Leeds head to Alex Neil’s Preston on Tuesday just days after Wilder’s men ground out a 1-0 away win at Deepdale to move a point clear of Marcelo Bielsa’s squad.

“Daniel has done a remarkable job to win eight straight games at this stage of the season,” said Wilder, quoted on the Sheffield Star web site. “I would be very surprised if they do not win the division. They have been consistent and steamed ahead. We are just desperate to try and hold on to them.

“I said (last week) if someone wins five out of six or six out of six, then fair play to them. But they are looking as if they could win all six.”

United now travel to Birmingham on Wednesday buoyed by the perfect response to a surprise recent home defeat to Bristol City.

“It’s a special group of players who always given everything for the football club, I’ve always said that and you could see how much they wanted that result,” he said.

“There is always going to be a lot of talk, a lot of noise and nonsense about what we need to do and where they belong, but things change quickly during a week in football and it can change back too.

“There is still a hell of a long way to go and we’ll just keep grinding away.

“Alex and his players never know when they are beaten, they are dogged and have done fantastically well and we are too.

“We’d looked at the stats and the goals they’d score early on and we had to expect them to come out at us, after the first 25 minutes we settled down.”