Brighton seek rare win in Steel City to continue FA Cup retribution
The Steel City has given us much over the years. Sean Bean. The Full Monty. Great pubs. But for Brighton & Hove Albion, visits to both Sheffield United and their crosstown rivals Sheffield Wednesday have tended to be pretty fruitless.
It was not until the autumn of 2016 that the Seagulls won for the first ever time at Hillsborough, just the 115 years after being founded.
Brighton have a slightly better historical record at Bramall Lane of four wins, but only one of those has come since November 1986.
Leon Knight bagged a last minute winner to secure a big three Championship points against Neil Warnock’s Blades almost 19 years to the day.
Before that, you have to go back to November 1986 to find the most recent away success for Brighton at Sheffield United.
Dean Saunders scored the only goal in an afternoon which was one of the few bright spots of Alan Mullery’s second spell in charge.
The sides were also paired together in the FA Cup later in that same campaign. A 0-0 draw at Bramall Lane was followed by the Blades running out 2-1 victors in a Wednesday night Goldstone Ground replay.
All makes for pretty grim reading, doesn’t it? Let us chuck in a positive then… Brighton provided one of the biggest FA Cup upsets in their history against Sheffield United when a flu-ravaged Division Three South squad beat the top flight Blades 1-0 at the Goldstone.
Some might say referencing a game from 121 years ago is pointless. Others will point to the fact the Albion are due both a win away against Sheffield United and an FA Cup blunting of the Blades.
Roberto De Zerbi will be hoping it is the latter. The Albion boss has made no secret of the fact he is seeking retribution in the FA Cup after last season’s cruel and unjust semi final defeat to Manchester United.
De Zerbi was true to his word in the third round of the competition, naming as full strength an XI as possible at the Bet365 Stadium.
There were a few bumps in the road thanks to a comedy own goal and a penalty given away, but Brighton eventually came through to defeat Stoke City 4-2 and overcome a potential banana skin of a tie.
The Albion benefitted from two weeks off immediately after the clash with the Potters. There is no such break this time; just 72 hours after facing Sheffield United, Brighton are back in Premier League action with a tricky fixture at Luton Town.
Then comes the big one against Crystal Palace at the Amex next Saturday. Will De Zerbi stick to his guns and again name the strongest team he can at Bramall Lane, with such an important week of football in the bread and butter of the league coming up?
Your correspondent hopes so. Whereas the FA Cup diminishes each season in the eyes of managers and fans of other clubs, so it seems to take on new importance and prestige in each passing year amongst Albion supporters.
It has been widely reported that Blackburn Rovers are going to be outnumbered in their own stadium this weekend, having sold only 5,000 tickets for the visit of Wrexham to Ewood Park. The Red Dragons in contrast are taking 7,000 fans from North Wales to Lancashire.
That might be an extreme example of how the FA Cup no longer matters. But try telling that to Brighton fans. A sold out away end at Stoke. A sold out away end at Sheffield United. Albion supporters are up for the FA Cup almost as much as De Zerbi.
What helps is that this is the greatest Brighton team of all time playing under the best Brighton manager of all time. The Albion have never had a better opportunity to win a major piece of silverware than with De Zerbi at the helm.
And they need to make the most of it, because De Zerbi will not be here forever. He might not even be here next season as one of the frontrunners for the Liverpool job following Jurgen Klopp’s bombshell announcement that he will be leaving Anfield in the summer.
The draw for the fourth round could have been kinder than a fellow Premier League team away. But if Brighton are going to match last season’s run to Wembley, they will need to beat top flight opposition at some point along the way.
In 2022-23, Klopp saw his holders Liverpool eliminated at the Amex. The Albion reaching the semi finals under Chris Hughton in 2018-19 has retrospectively been branded an easy run.
Brighton though had to win at Plucky Little Bournemouth in the third round, ending a 12 year wait for victory at the Vitality Stadium. Bournemouth would infamously beat Brighton 5-0 in the Premier League three months later at the Amex.
Sheffield United went all the way to semi finals last season as a Championship club, before suffering their own Wembley defeat to Manchester City and a stunning Riyad Mahrez hat-trick.
Chris Wilder and his Blades have more important fish to fry this season, however. They are rock bottom of the Premier League, seven points adrift of safety.
Wilder was brought back to Bramall Lane at the beginning of December for one purpose and one purpose only – top flight survival.
That can play into Brighton’s hands. Sheffield United may rest players with a very winnable game at freefalling Crystal Palace to come on Tuesday night.
If De Zerbi names a team to win the game and the Blades are understrength, Brighton should expect to win – even with their patchy record in the Steel City.
Fingers crossed that is the case, rather than an FA Cup death of the sort the great Sean Bean has suffered in 25 different movies and counting.
