Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United boss, is relishing the opportunity to go toe to toe with fellow football man Slaven Bilic when he leads his side to tackle West Brom on Saturday evening. Albion and the Blades would appear to be two of four sides already at risk of being cut adrift by the rest of the division at the foot of the Premier League table after winless starts. Wilder reasons that 17th would still be an achievement for his relative newcomers to the top flight, and indicates that similar can be said for Albion, who are back in the big time after a two-year absence.
Chris Wilder said “They’ve come up, the best two teams came up in the automatic positions, West Bromwich Albion were one of them. They’ve been a team that’s 10, 12, 13 years out of the last 15 or 16 in the Premier League. They’ve gained all the advantages that that brings, year in year out. You look at their players – they’ve got Livermore, Bartley. They’ve brought a few players in and there’s been a bit of a turnaround. They’re a Premier League club, who had dropped out but who have got back in again. We’re all after the positive start we all crave, it’s not so easy though. You’ve got to get the results. They’ve had some positive performances just as we have. They’ll have looked at the Manchester United and Tottenham games as games they should’ve got something out of. Slaven is a football man just as much as I am. It’s a tough game for both of us, I understand that. It’ll be tight, and you wouldn’t expect anything else.”
