Early team news for Blades battle

Following our exclusive training update from Carrington earlier on Thursday, it has been disclosed that Casemiro will not be available, after being forced to delay his return from international duty with Brazil.

Rasmus Hojlund and Sofyan Amrabat were pictured in the session, despite some doubts about their fitness, and Sergio Reguilon is back in the fold after being sidelined since the 1-0 victory at Burnley last month.

We can reveal there is also good news on Raphael Varane, with the defender working again with the squad after his recent absence.

Fellow centre-back Jonny Evans picked up a knock while captaining Northern Ireland against Slovenia but was also present, while youngster Kobbie Mainoo was another involved, as he looks to regain full fitness after sustaining an injury on the pre-season tour.

The Reds were without Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Amad heading into the break.

Scott McTominay obviously pressed his claims for a starting spot with his brilliant injury-time double against the Bees, while Antony continued his return to action with a substitute appearance last time out and there are options for the boss to ponder on either flank, from an attacking perspective.

Certainly, Marcus Rashford looked sharp when scoring for England in the 3-1 victory over Italy in midweek, and he has a good goalscoring record at Bramall Lane.

We will hear from manager Erik ten Hag at his pre-match press conference, look out for it on our official channels from 12:30 BST on Friday.

SHEFFIELD UNITED'S TEAM NEWS

Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom, a former Red, will be hoping the international break has enabled a number of his absentees to regain full fitness. 

Updates are awaited on George Baldock, William Osula, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Max Lowe and Ben Osborn but Tom Davies has confirmed he faces a longer spell on the sidelines. 

Defenders Chris Basham and John Egan have suffered issues that are set to keep them out of action.

Another one of our ex-Academy graduates, Oliver Norwood, is being tipped to captain the side, in some quarters, with regular skipper Egan unavailable.