Chris Wilder will take his Sheffield United side to Hillsborough this weekend confident that they can pick up a positive result against Wednesday in the Steel City derby.

The Blades head to Hillsborough as underdogs, despite sitting three places higher than Carlos Carvalhal’s men going into the weekend’s fixtures.

One reason for that is the quality of squad Sheffield Wednesday have available to them, with some of the Sky Bet Championship’s most impressive talent at Carvalhal’s disposal.

One player the Blades will be cautious of is Gary Hooper, who has scored four goals in his last four Championship appearances.

Here at FLW, we have looked at the side Wilder might select to combat Hooper’s threat.

We are not expecting Wilder to move away from his favoured 3-5-2 formation, or the personnel within that system, but more the way they work as a unit to stop Hooper coming deep to retrieve the ball and to mark his late runs into the area.

Jamal Blackman will be expected to continue in goal, behind an exceptional defensive unit including Jack O’Connell, Jake Wright and Chris Basham.

Enda Stevens and Kieron Freeman are our choice in the wing back roles, with the duo flanking a midfield three of Paul Coutts, John Fleck and Mark Duffy.

The role of Wilder’s midfield will be to get a grip of the game and dictate the Blades’ attacking play, but to combat Hooper’s threat as a second striker, the trio may be asked to sit a little deeper and narrow the space between themselves and the defence.

Wilder’s attacking options will not have much to do with combatting Hooper’s strengths, but with the Blades likely to be playing on the break, their attack could be working overtime as the first line of defence.

Clayton Donaldson is one player Wilder will want available, but with the striker struggling for fitness, we believe Ched Evans and Billy Sharp, if fit, will give the Blades the work rate required.

Sheffield United fans… What do you make of our XI? Let us know your thoughts!