John Egan sums up 'crazy' Sheffield United issue which has hit Championship promotion chase

In the continued absence of Billy Sharp through injury, John Egan will be hoping to lead Sheffield United to an important victory when they face QPR on tonight. The teams are separated by just one place and two points and will both view the clash as a must-win fixture in their respective promotion pushes.

The Republic of Ireland regular has played every single minute for the Blades in the Championship this season but his central defensive partners have interchanged almost on a weekly basis. Ahead of the visit of QPR, he discussed United’s injury misfortunes that had started to get out of control earlier this year.

“It was crazy. I’ve never really seen anything like it from January onwards, it felt like we were losing someone every game,” claimed Egan. “It was quite tough to take but we’ve shown that we’ve got a squad and the lads who’ve come in have done really well and stepped up to the plate.

Paul Heckingbottom provides a number of Sheffield United injury updates ahead of QPR clash

“I think that’s what you need especially with the run of games we had with the games being called off at Christmas. It gave us a tougher schedule, you need your squad and the lads who’ve come in have done well and that’s what we need going forward.”

In recent weeks, United have really missed Egan’s defensive partner Chris Basham who has been out of action since the 4-0 win against Swansea in February. Paul Heckingbottom claimed that he hopes to have him back for the last few games of the season and Egan touched on just how important he is to the team.

“I think I’ve said it about Bashy in the past, he’s a phenomenal person, a phenomenal player and a phenomenal team mate,” said the Blades vice-captain. “He’s a huge loss for us and that goes