Sheffield United injury crisis: When players will return and what's been said

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom is having an absolutely torrid time when it comes to injuries within his squad.

The Blades find themselves fifth in the Championship as they head into the final ten games of the season and are eight points adrift of the automatic promotion spots.

Injuries to Heckinbottom's side means he has used a total of 31 players in the league so far compared to the average of 29.6 and fears are growing that injuries could cause the Blades' promotion push to be derailed.

Oli McBurnie was the only senior outfield player to be named on the substitutes' bench for their 4-1 defeat at Coventry City on Saturday as five of the seven subs were aged 22 and under and four of those had a combined total of just three Championship appearances between them.

Kacper Lopata has been recalled from his loan at Southend to help soften the blow in terms of numbers at the back and while Heckingbottom says it's good for the younger players to be involved, they are only there through necessity.

Dead leg

Came on as a substitute but was forced off against Coventry City on March 12. Wanted to continue playing but had to be taken off.

"Oli, he wasn’t really moving as we know he can and that was obviously a worry. We had to protect him. We have to protect him as we do others out there.

“We’ll see how he goes. He’ll obviously be getting treatment. But there’s no point in pretending the (overall) situation is good. We need to start getting some of these lads back.”

Blackpool away (March 16) at the earliest.

Knee

Charlie Goode should have returned to the Sheffield United squad for the Blades' match with Coventry City on March 12 having completed a three-match suspension; however, the on-loan Brentford man was absent in