Palace v Sheffield United

Selhurst Park, Sunday 1.15pm

Selhurst Park

Story so far

Third-placed Sheffield United can seal automatic promotion to the Premier League if they beat Crystal Palace and Birmingham fail to win against Reading.

Birmingham's defeat to Preston last weekend gives the Blades an opportunity to leapfrog Blues into second place.

Reading can also do it if they see off Birmingham and Sheffield United lose to Palace - both matches will be televised on Sky Sports.

Sheffield United will be backed by around 10,000 fans at Selhurst Park and Eagles boss Neil Warnock has promised not to let his side roll over for his boyhood club.

Team news

Palace's midfield duo Shaun Derry (shoulder) and winger Sean Scannell (hernia) are still sidelined, along with John Oster (neck) and Paul Ifill (hamstring). The Eagles welcome back Victor Moses after the young winger completed his suspension for his recent red card.

Sheffield United's Brian Howard is available for selection after serving a two-match ban.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"As everyone well knows it’s going to be a difficult game for me, personally. Everyone knows my connections with the club and that I support United.

"The spine of the team; the likes of Nick Montgomery, Paddy Kenny, Matt Kilgannon and Chris Morgan are all my players.

"Everyone that knows me knows that I want my team to win. My players will go into the game wanting to win it - whether that will be good enough on the day is a different matter. But no matter what happens on Sunday, I can’t win - I’m on a loser no matter what happens."

Kevin Blackwell

"I'm extremely proud that we are in the running for automatic promotion right at the death. It has all come down to this weekend and the two games at the top will provide a terrific spectacle.

"Even when James Beattie left, we believed we had a good enough squad. We recognised that we needed to win games at Christmas and Easter and we put a lot on the board at the right time.

"We, and a few others outside the top three, have gradually dragged ourselves back in to set up this finale.

"I honestly couldn't say just who is in the driving seat. The way things are balanced, you couldn't write the script."

Sheffield United - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
3rd	45	22	13	10	79

Full league table

Sheffield United - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
6	4	1	1	6	2

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
20/12/2008	League	Sheffield United	2 - 2	Crystal Palace
29/12/2007	League	Sheffield United	0 - 1	Crystal Palace
22/09/2007	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 2	Sheffield United
30/04/2006	League	Sheffield United	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
05/11/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 3	Sheffield United

All time results

Sheffield United's top scorer

Stephen Quinn - 8 goals

Sheffield United's bad boy

Darius Henderson - 4 2

Palace old boys

Sun Jihai, Craig Beattie (loan)

Ref watch

Chris Foy

Last meeting

Sheffield United 2-2 Palace

Saturday December 20 2008

Sheffield United: Kenny, Morgan, Kilgallon, Ehiogu, Naughton, Montgomery, Howard (Halford, 89), Quinn, Dyer (Stokes, 72), Beattie, Webber (Cotterill, 77)

Subs not used: Bennett, Sharp

Goals: Dyer 41, Beattie 88(pen)

Bookings: Kilgallon, Montgomery, Morgan

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Fonte, McCarthy, Hill, Oster (Butterfield, 79), Derry, Carle, Ifill (Moses, 56), Kuqi (Lee, 46), Scannell

Subs not used: Lawrence, Griffit

Goals: McCarthy 47, Carle 90

Bookings: Derry, Hill, Kuqi