The Premier League returns following an agonising summer wait, and the 2023/24 campaign promises to kick things off with a raft of tantalising fixtures.
Burnley return to the top flight and face the unenviable task of welcoming imperious champions Manchester City in the curtain-raiser on Friday 11th August, while Chelsea open their account against Liverpool on the afternoon of 13th – both outfits fell by the wayside last year and will look to start with a bang.
Each and every fixture will be welcomed by hungry football fans eager to see nets bulge and tackles fly once again, but one match that might have gone somewhat under the radar is newly promoted Sheffield United's clash with Crystal Palace.
The opening whistle will blow at 3pm on Saturday, and while this fixture has not seen the greatest volume of goals in English football, there is plenty to anticipate as the Eagles will hope to continue their rich vein of form against Paul Heckingbottom's side, while the Blades will target a victory to kickstart their return to top-flight football.
It's now just a whisker away, and Football FanCast brings you everything you need to know ahead of the first exciting encounter for the respective sides.
Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Who has the better record?
It's about as finely poised as it gets.
The respective outfits have contested 57 times across all competitions since the two clubs entered the footballing world, and while the Selhurst Park side edge it, they do so by the slightest of margins.
Palace, led by Roy Hodgson once again, have defeated Sheffield United on 23 occasions, whereas the home side for the forthcoming encounter can restore parity in the all-time charts with a victory, having secured the win on 22 occasions.
12 draws in total indicates that the outfits fight fiercely and often emerge with one side victorious, and given that three points will be considered the goal for both sets of players on Saturday, that could well continue.
Sheffield United wins: 22 Draws: 12 Crystal Palace wins: 23 Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Who has more wins at Bramall Lane?
The home advantage has not held much weight in this particular clash, with Crystal Palace defeating the Blades on enemy soil on ten occasions, having played 29 matches at the ground in total.
The Sheffield side, for their part, edge the contests with 13 wins, while the clubs have drawn six times, illustrating the very nature of this tie – fiercely fought, competitive, and ever-changing bragging rights.
Given that the raucous Blades support will be eager to make a dream start following promotion from the Championship, the home side will be hopeful to avoid Palace narrowing the deficit as they kick off their 11th successive season in the Premier League.
Sheffield United wins: 13 Draws: 6 Crystal Palace wins: 10 Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Who has more wins at Selhurst Park?
There is almost a perfect state of equipoise between Sheffield United and Crystal Palace; the clashes in south London are almost identical to those in Sheffield, the advantage this time swaying in the favour of the Eagles.
The Selhurst Park side have defeated their forthcoming opponents 13 times on home turf, while just like in the reverse fixture, six draws have taken place on this ground.
Sheffield United have clinched nine away victories, just one win short of Palace's tally at Bramall Lane, and dependent on results this season, parity could be struck, or Palace could start to tilt the odds further in their favour.
Crystal Palace wins: 13 Draws: 6 Sheffield United wins: 9 Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Who has the better cup record?
While Sheffield United have won four FA Cups across their extensive history, their last triumph in the prestigious tournament came in 1925, so it's been some time, to say the least.
That fateful 1-0 victory over Cardiff City was actually 34 years before the Blades would first clash against Crystal Palace, who have never won a major honour in their history.
The respective sides have only ever met twice in cup competitions, with United prevailing on both occasions.
The first encounter was in fact the first ever match between the teams; Sheffield United defeated the Eagles 2-0 in the FA Cup on January 10th, 1959 in the third round – United would eventually fall to Norwich City in the quarter-finals.
The second cup match came nearly half a century forward on 17th December 2002, with the Blades victorious once again after beating their opposition 3-1 in the quarter-finals – they would then fall to Liverpool in the penultimate stage of the yearly tournament.
Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: What were the last five meetings?
8th May 2021 – Sheffield United 0-2 Crystal Palace (Premier League): In the most recent encounter between Crystal Palace and Sheffield United, Eberechi Eze and Christian Benteke's strikes secured the Eagles' Premier League status with four matches to play, piling further misery onto already-relegated United.
Palace became the 11th side to do the league double over the Blades that season, with only Derby County posting a wearier record (12) during their infamous relegation campaign.
2nd January 2021 – Crystal Palace 2-0 Sheffield United (Premier League): Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze scored at either end of the first half to compound Sheffield United's woes in their second season back in the Premier League.
The Yorkshire-based side were excellent upon their return, but suffered from a virulent bout of Second Season Syndrome, and Palace's victory left them yielding just two points from 17 league matches.
Palace's victory, however, moved them up to 14th in the table and 11 points away from danger, cementing their stature in the division for yet another season.
1st February 2020 – Crystal Palace 0-1 Sheffield United (Premier League): Securing their first victory at Selhurst Park since 2005, Chris Wilder's team benefited from a remarkable Vicente Guaita own goal to move Sheffield United up to fifth in the Premier League after 25 matches.
The Spanish shot-stopper blundered from Oliver Norwood's looping corner and dropped the ball into his own net just after the hour mark, and the Eagles could not restore parity despite dominating possession and taking 13 shots to United's ten, leaving Roy Hodgson's outfit on a six-match winless streak.
18th August 2019 – Sheffield United 1-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League, Bramall Lane): John Lundstram scored the solitary goal in what was Sheffield United's first top-flight match at Bramall Lane for 12 years, with the collective team effort an indication of what was to come as the Blades secured an emphatic ninth-placed finish before plummeting back into the Championship the following year.
19th February 2011 – Crystal Palace 1-0 Sheffield United (Championship): Darren Ambrose scored a stunning long-range volley on this day to ease Crystal Palace's concerns about relegation from the Championship, compounding United's perilous position a rung below them on the league ladder.
Following the result, Palace actually stretched to a five-point advantage over the Blades in 21st place, with Micky Adams' side ultimately going on to suffer relegation to League One; Palace would stay up, clinching promotion to the Premier League two years later, where they have remained ever since.
What is Sheffield United's biggest victory over Crystal Palace?
12th April 1997 – Sheffield United 3-0 Crystal Palace (Division One, Bramall Lane): Sheffield United have only ever beaten Crystal Palace by a three-goal margin once, and that day came in 1997, as the Blades, managed by Howard Kendall, scored an early penalty through Mitch Ward to set the tone for the triumphant home side.
Jan Aage Fjortoft scored just shy of 20 minutes into the affair as the home side dug in and defended their advantage, proving successful before breaking in the dying embers of the second half and sealing a dominant 3-0 victory through David White's strike.
What is Crystal Palace's biggest victory over Sheffield United?
4th December 1971 – Crystal Palace 5-1 Sheffield United: In the all-time highest-scoring match between Crystal Palace and Sheffield United, the London-based club sat rock-bottom in Division One when the respective outfits took to the grass, only for Bert Head's side to demolish United – who sat-joint third in the table.
The Eagles would finish the 1971/72 term just four points above the drop zone, and had this match run a different narrative, the business end of the campaign could have taken a very different turn indeed.
Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Key match stats
This will be the 58th match between the two sides, and the 30th at Bramall Lane. Crystal Palace's 2-0 away victory in the last encounter against Sheffield United ended a four-match unbeaten Blades run at Bramall Lane. The two teams have only played out one goalless draw since 1996, and have not played out a 0-0 at Bramall Lane since 1985 – totalling 20 consecutive goal-scoring fixtures at Sheffield United's home ground. It has also been eight matches since the teams played out a draw at either stadium. Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace: Classic meetings
18th August 2019 – Sheffield United 1-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League): John Lundstram's solitary strike secured three points for Sheffield United in their first Premier League fixture at Bramall Lane in 12 years.
Enveloped by what can only be described as a cacophonous throng of home support, the Blades only had 42% possession against Roy Hodgson's Palace, but peppered 15 shots to the Eagles' six and kickstarted a tremendous campaign that resulted in a ninth-placed finish, just five points away from European qualification.
26th May 1997 – Sheffield United 0-1 Crystal Palace (Division One play-off final, Wembley): Ah, football. It can leave you in tears, for better or worse; it can break hearts and it can send entire cities into rapture.
In May 1997, Crystal Palace's late goal at Wembley Stadium provided Sheffield United supporters with one of the bleaker aspects of the great game, with a last-gasp fizzler scored by David Hopkins from outside the box leaving the Eagles soaring to the top tier while leaving the Blades blunted and beleaguered.
The real poignancy of the affair, however, stems from the fact that Hopkins actually had a trial with the South Yorkshire-based side six years earlier, but it didn't work out.
Oh, what could have been…