NEWCASTLE VS SHEFFIELD UNITED Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of Newcastle vs Sheffield United at a nearly empty St James' Park. We’re here to guide you through all the build-up, hype and highlights ahead of kick-off at 2pm. Stay with us.

Sheffield United manage to make it out of their own half and again they make it work down the right. Baldock in and Sharp goes for glory with a big volley on the turn. A few yards over.

Water break. Wilder in the middle of his men dishing out a teamtalk.

BIG BLOCK! Joelinton tees up Shelvey 25 yards out but Egan dives heroically in the way. Massive block. That's why they don't concede many.

All Newcastle now.

CHANCE! Oh dear.

Joelinton looks every bit a man without confidence.

He's through on goal down the left, opens his body up to bend it round the keeper, completely scuffs it into the ground under very little pressure.

So poor from the £40m man.

Newcastle having a go now and keeping the ball much better.

Rose drives forward and wins a free-kick. Shelvey lumps it into the box but the Blades clear. Easy clearance for the side with the second best defensive record in the league.

CHANCE! Norwood gives the ball away to Almiron who plays in Ritchie 30 yards out.

Ritchie's shot from distance is goalbound and stings the palms of Dean Henderson on the dive. Great shot, great save.

Back up the other end Newcastle win a corner that causes chaos in the box but the Blades scramble away.

This is every bit the match you'd expect between these two so far. End to end scraps with little midfield action.

Berge takes a heavy touch in the box and Dubravka finally has a goal-kick. He takes his time as the Magpies regroup. Everyone looks just a little bit off the pace.

The Blades come again and it's another corner as Danny Rose blocks a cross. Baldock looking dangerous down the right.

But the short corner tactics between Norwood and Fleck are all wrong and Dubravka gets another goal kick.

Fleck's inswinging free-kick is headed away be Lascelles.

Corner now...Norwood bends in a dangerous ball and Robinson can't quite get a head on it at the fast post.

Newcastle a bit penned in here.

Lots of long balls and throw-ins early on here making for a scrappy first five. The fake crowd sound like they're well up for this though.

The Blades come forward now through Basham and win a free-kick on the angle, 25 yards out.

A cagey start as expected as two clubs with just 55 goals between them in 58 games get underway.

Joelinton has a run at Basham but he's stopped in his tracks - he must be desperate for a goal.

A moment of reflection well observed.

...And we're off!

One for the trivia nuts out there. Newcastle boss Steve Bruce actually took charge of Sheffield United in 1998 as his first managerial role. He was only in the job one year.

Not so much an emotional reunion today as a reunion.

Five minutes 'til kick-off!

Newcastle fans have had plenty of drama in the break despite a lack of football, with a potential big-money takeover looming.

But boss Steve Bruce admits it's been a little distracting.

He told Sky Sports: "You can't deny talk of a takeover is a distraction but we can't use it as an excuse. All I can really do is focus on my staff and prepare the players as best as I can.

"It's not great, let's be honest, but we have to get on with the job in hand."

· In the reverse Premier League fixture this season, Newcastle United defeated Sheffield United 2-0 at Bramall Lane on 5 December through goals by Allan Saint-Maximin (15') and Jonjo Shelvey (70').

· Newcastle can win both top flight matches against Sheffield United in a single campaign for the first time since 1972/73 (2-1 away, 4-1 home).

· Newcastle are the league's lowest scorers with 25. Summer signing Joelinton has managed just one goal for the club upfront in the league.

· Sheffield United have 44 points after 29 matches. Only three promoted clubs have had at least 47 points after 30 fixtures of a Premier League season: Newcastle (51 in 1993/94), Ipswich Town (49 in 2000/01) and Nottingham Forest (47 in 1994/95). Those teams finished third, fifth and third respectively.

But while they may have missed out on two extra points against Villa, the Blades are still, remarkably, within touching distance of the Champions League.

Far from relegation, all the talk is on whether Sheffield United can spring the biggest surprise of the season and qualify for the Champions League.

With Manchester City suspended from Europe’s premier competition for the next two seasons (pending appeal), Sheffield United could qualify if they finish fifth. A win today would see them leapfrog Manchester United into that very position.

Surely not!?

The Blades were on the receiving end of a rare technological blunder on Wednesday - Oliver Norwood's free-kick against Aston Villa with the scores level clearly crossed the line and even goal-line technology failed to pick it up after some serious camera obstruction. VAR failed to intervene and no goal was given.

Gaffa Chris Wilder wasn't exactly thrilled.

And a particularly warm welcome return to Newcastle fans who haven’t seen their club in action since March 7 when they beat Southampton 1-0. That’s three and a half months to prepare for this game…surely they’re ready?

As for the Blades, United kicked off their return to PL action with a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa that took them joint top for clean sheets this season with 11. Not bad for a side well fancied for the drop in August.

Sheffield United: Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, Basham, Egan, Robinson, Norwood, Fleck, Berge, Sharp, McBurnie.

Subs: Lundstram, L. Freeman, Jagielka, K. Freeman, Mousset, Osborn, Rodwell, Zivkovic, Moore

Newcastle: Dubravka, Rose, Manquillo, Lascelles, Fernandez, Ritchie, Shelvey, Hayden, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Joelinton.

Subs: Darlow, Schar, Carroll, Gayle, Muto, Krafth, Yedlin, Lazaro, Bentaleb.