Forgotten Premier League Seasons: Sheffield United 2019/20

Forgotten Premier League Seasons: Sheffield United 2019/20

Let’s take a step back in time: the year is 2019, the planet is blissfully unaware of the fast-approaching COVID pandemic, my beloved Chelsea are under a brutal transfer embargo, and Boris Johnson had just been elected as the new Prime Minister.

More importantly though, the Premier League welcomed three new teams from the Championship - Sheffield United, Norwich City and Aston Villa all made the leap back up to the top flight in place of Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town and Fulham.

For Sheffield United, the season represented their first in the top flight since 2006/07, and an opportunity to spend consecutive seasons in the Premier League for the first time since the late 90s and early 2000s.

⚽️ 138 Games.

📈 258 Points.

😯 76 Wins.

💥 232 Goals Scored.

🔥 2 Promotions.#OneOfOurOwn 🔴 pic.twitter.com/VzOD5HLNct

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) July 9, 2019

The man in charge of the Blades was Chris Wilder, in the first of three stints at the club, and under his guidance, the club would comfortably claim automatic promotion, finishing six points ahead of third-placed Leeds United, while conceding just 41 goals, the best defensive record in the league.

However, they were still tipped for immediate relegation by many Premier League fans, who had got used to yo-yo clubs in recent years. Sheffield were seen as just another promotion hopeful doomed to make an immediate return to the Championship.

However, few, if any, could anticipate just how effective Chris Wilder’s side could be, especially at the home fortress that Bramall Lane would become.

Sharp As A Blade

Wilder was savvy in the summer transfer window - players such as Swansea targetman Oli McBurnie and Anderlecht midfielder Sander Berge were signed for £15 million or more, while the likes of Bournemouth’s Lys Mousset and Preston’s Callum Robinson were bought in for significantly smaller fees.

Sheffield academy graduate and former Everton captain Phil Jagielka returned to his boyhood club on a free transfer, while mercurial former West Ham and Man United midfielder Ravel Morrison was also brought in as a free agent. In all, the Blades signed 10 players for an overall cost of a shade over £60 million, and while unspectacular at the time, their business turned out to be the best of the promoted sides.

Ironically, it was against Lys Mousset’s former side, Bournemouth, that Sheffield opened their campaign with, and though Chris Mepham gave Bournemouth the lead, it was Blades legend Billy Sharp’s 88th-minute finish that caught the headlines and rescued an opening day point for Wilder’s side - it was a result that would go on to set the tone for the season.

A name forever etched into Sheffield United history. ⚔️

Join us in wishing Billy Sharp a very happy birthday. 🥳🐐 pic.twitter.com/FIWPsfbY0z

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) February 5, 2024

The very next game, United’s season officially had lift-off – John Lundstram’s close-range strike just after half-time proved enough to sink Crystal Palace, and Wilder’s men maintained their unbeaten start in the process.

They would be hit with a reality check next game with a 2-1 defeat to Leicester, but the Blades quickly bounced back with a stunning comeback draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Trailing 2-0 at halftime thanks to a Tammy Abraham brace (the same Tammy Abraham who ran rings around them in the Championship the season prior), Robinson pulled one back straight after halftime, before their constant pushing and probing finally drew an 89th-minute own goal from Kurt Zouma.

The result signalled United’s competitiveness even with the best sides in the league and, although they had only won one of their opening four, two late goals had still prevented two defeats, leaving them 10th in the league.

Defeats to Southampton and Liverpool would sandwich an away triumph against Everton in which Mousset opened his account for the club, but though the losses were close, the club were trending down the league table, now sitting in 12th. With a tough run of games throughout October and November, many feared the worst.

However, Chris Wilder had other plans in mind.

A Surprise Surge

It was at the start of October that Wilder showed just how tactically intelligent he was. Favouring a 3-5-2 system, his innovative approach to wide centre-backs caused some of the league's finest defenders all sorts of problems.

Instead of using the wingbacks to overlap in attacks, Wilder would order them to stay deeper, instead prompting his wide centre-backs to fly up the field and then move wide in attack. The wingbacks would consequently move inside to occupy the vacant centre-half positions, and in attack, the marauding defenders would bring a host of unaccounted-for threats to offensive moves.

Chris Wilder's 2019/20 Sheffield United team unironically one of the most tactically influential teams of recent years https://t.co/5RJqjO8dnj

— Max (@MaxRadwan) August 25, 2025

It would work wonders for the Blades over the next two months, as they went on a seven-game unbeaten streak. In this run, they earned a comprehensive 3-0 win over Burnley, in which Lundstram bagged a brace and Mousset set up all three, and a superb 1-0 victory at home to Arsenal, with Mousset’s strike on the 30-minute mark enough to deal their first big blow to a top side.

On-loan Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson also introduced himself to the wider world, putting together a string of outstanding performances as he continued his career development.

Dean Henderson has had an unbelievable season for Sheffield United 👏

Should he be Manchester United’s No. 1 already? 🧤 pic.twitter.com/Bq2Q8V7yVo

— GOAL (@goal) March 2, 2020

Though the other five results in this run would be draws, there were still some notable results, with draws away at Tottenham (1-1) and at home to Man United (3-3) the standouts. The undefeated streak would push them up to fifth and into the Europa League qualifying spot, something Premier League fans had not seen a promoted side threaten for years.

Their surge up the table would eventually be brought to a halt by Newcastle in early December to the tune of a 2-0 defeat, but Bramall Lane was not disheartened - if anything, the result only provoked further brilliance, as United would win three of their next four games, drawing the other.

Encapsulated here were wins over both of their fellow promoted sides in Aston Villa and Norwich, illustrating both the gulf in quality between the two squads as well as the extent of the tactics between the coaches. Wilder’s overlapping centre backs were causing havoc in the box, and their competitiveness in the air meant there were plenty of scraps for the forwards to feed off.

Their 1-1 draw with Watford marked both the end of this latest unbeaten run and the halfway point in the season: Sheffield United occupied a remarkable sixth place, and showed no signs of slowing down. However, one factor that no one has considered was set to change the Premier League in ways never seen before.

OFFICIAL: The Premier League has been suspend until at least the 4th April! #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/h3EWbyk98L

— BenchWarmers (@BeWarmers) March 13, 2020

The Layoff And The Comeback

I am, of course, talking about COVID-19, as it was in December that the first rumblings of a disease in China spread to the wider UK media.

The disease itself had not yet reached the country, and so games went ahead all the way up to mid-March - however, when it did arrive, it did so with the impact and influence of Erling Haaland at Man City - unstoppable.

Passing the halfway point of the season, Sheffield's good fortunes continued, but not before they suffered three defeats in five games in what was a rough January - facing Liverpool once and Man City twice, Wilder had to ensure he picked up points elsewhere and duly did so with a win over West Ham and another draw against Arsenal.

Following their second loss to Pep Guardiola’s sky blue juggernauts, the Blades once again put together an impressive run of form - they beat Crystal Palace and Bournemouth in consecutive games, drew at home to Brighton (in which Enda Stevens smashed home a half-volley stunner) and, in the final game before lockdown measures were put in place, notched their second win of the season over Norwich.

Unstoppable from Enda Stevens 🤯#OTD | @ArnoldLaver pic.twitter.com/Hi4Gt5E3Xd

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) February 22, 2025

From this point onwards, the Premier League season was plunged into darkness - the lack of football, the claustrophobia of being stuck in your own home, and the complete blackout of social interaction quickly got on the nerves of the entire nation - for the footballer’s stuck at home, working online was not an option. No doubt they were all itching to get back to it, particularly those in Sheffield United’s colours - they will have wanted to finish what they started so impressively.

After a three-month hiatus, football returned, and so did Sheffield United; their clash with Aston Villa on June 17th signalled the first Premier League game of the post-lockdown era. Sitting pretty in 7th place, the Blades emerged from this notorious game feeling cheated thanks to a now infamous goal-line technology blunder.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland quite clearly carried Oliver Norwood’s free-kick into the Villa net, but the automated sensors failed to register the ball crossing the line, and referee Michael Oliver received no interference from VAR - this became the first, and to this day the only, goal-line technology inaccuracy.

Should Sheffield United be ahead here!? 🤯

It looked as if #AVFC 'keeper Ørjan Nyland took the ball over his own line but goal-line technology says no goal! ❌ pic.twitter.com/kbSsJajwrF

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) June 17, 2020

It hit Sheffield hard too - bereft of the momentum they had carried into the lockdown, the ghost goal against Villa seemed to have knocked the wind out of their sails: 3-0 defeats to both Newcastle and Man United followed, and many Blades fans nervously looked over their shoulders. The club had already hit the magical 40-point mark, but still, it pays not to be complacent.

They needn’t have worried - playing on their home turf for the first time since the lockdown was lifted, Sheffield ploughed to a 3-1 win over Spurs, and with two of their next three also being played at Bramall Lane, Wilder’s side thrived. They would go on to notch a 1-0 victory over Wolves and a remarkable 3-0 thumping of Chelsea, who would go on to scrape a fourth-place finish.

McBurnie, ‘overlapping centre-back’ John Egan, and David McGoldrick would all find the net twice across this run, and, along with a draw against Burnley, this run took them to 56 points, right on the cusp of European football.

Tragically, they would not be able to build on that total, as defeats to Leicester, Everton and Southampton in their final three fixtures would see them finish just three points outside a European spot.

R̶e̶l̶e̶g̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶u̶g̶g̶l̶e̶r̶s̶. Top 10. 👏

This season’s 9th placed finish is our highest ever in the @premierleague. pic.twitter.com/xREfff5oHb

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) July 28, 2020

Yes, Wilder and the team had done a stellar job of staying up, but even the most deadpan of fans, staff and players couldn’t hide their disappointment at missing out on a continental adventure.

Still, Sheffield United’s 2019/20 season stands as a testament to what can be achieved through innovative thinking and hard work. The workhorses were there all along: Chris Basham, John Fleck, Lunstram, Egan and Stevens all ran themselves into the ground for the full 90 minutes. What was needed was a system that could harness that energy and willpower.

Wilder found it through an unconventional approach which, despite yielding just 39 league goals all season, drew upon every admirable aspect of his side's style: work ethic, determination, a never-say-die attitude and a rock-solid defensive foundation. Lys Mousset finished as the club's top scorer in the league with just six goals, but in all honesty, Sheffield never needed a reliable striker.

To try and score through one channel, i.e., the striker, would make them predictable and easily beatable like so many promoted sides before them. Wilder, thinking outside the box, instead built a system which could see anyone score from anywhere, vastly increasing their goal threat, and with it their unpredictability.

While all of Chris Wilder’s hard work would collapse around him the following campaign with a 20th-placed finish, 2019/20 Sheffield United have become one of the most tactically influential teams in years. Do you think it is a coincidence that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal use an almost identical overlapping centre-back tactic to the one that Chris Wilder pioneered?