Chris Wilder left fuming after Sheffield United team news leaks ahead of Aston Villa match - ‘An absolute joke’

Chris Wilder lambasted those leaking the Sheffield United team news, after his line-up for Friday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa was released prematurely.

Cameron Archer put the Blades on course for a stunning win at Villa Park, before Nicolo Zaniolo struck in stoppage time to salvage a point for Unai Emery’s side.

Despite that impressive result in England’s second city, Wilder will still left seething as he addressed the media ahead of their Boxing Day clash against survival rivals Luton on Boxing Day.

He said: “It’s an absolute joke. So that person, brilliant. Call yourself a Sheffield United fan?

“Everybody will know the team by the way because it’ll come out on Twitter, apparently, about 10.30 on Boxing Day morning so you’ll know the team pretty early.

“So, it’s a decision that I’ve got to make. I will comment about it, I think it’s a joke. It’s quite difficult, obviously, to keep the team pretty much quiet but I’m not happy about that situation.

“If anybody thinks that team gets bandied about pretty easily, they’ve got another thing coming. So, whoever did it, I appreciate that. Thanks very much.

“I’m going have to tighten everything up around the training ground. That has not done us any favours as well. Our lesson learned from that.”

Wilder is also having to contend with a growing injury list, which includes: Anel Ahmedhodzic, Rhian Brewster, Chris Basham, John Egan and Tom Davies.

The South Yorkshire side head into Tuesday’s match propping up the Premier League table with nine points from 18 games – three adrift of the Hatters in 18th, who have played one game fewer.

Despite their position, Wilder is encouraging his players to avoid the outside noise and build on that positive result at Villa Park last time out.

“We need to get the performance right but you can’t quieten it down, everybody sees league tables. We do go into the next game, like we did on Friday, to make sure we get a performance,” he explained.

“Rest, recover, a little time to work on the training ground. We’ve had some serious blows we’ve had to deal with leading into going to one of the best teams in the division.

“Hopefully we can have a look and see where the players are, work, recover and go again.”

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