Sheffield United plan to cope with heatwave in Mansfield Town game with Paul Heckingbottom keen to play

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom says the Blades are planning to cope with the heatwave against Mansfield Town on Tuesday, even though the Met Office have issued a red warning for extreme heat.

Temperatures in Mansfield on Tuesday are expected to reach close to 40 degrees in a nationwide heatwave. The Blades are used to playing in warm conditions, having just come back from their pre-season training camp in Portugal.

Heckingbottom has already discussed a possible change in kick-off time and extra water breaks with Mansfield boss Nigel Clough.

"We'll be looking at the weather warning and weather conditions, but we've just played in higher temperatures in Portugal - it was ridiculous out there," Heckingbottom told sufc.co.uk after the Blades' 3-2 defeat at Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

"While we have to take precautions and do things right, you never know what the weather will be like at the start of the season anyway. As long as we prepare properly and recover properly afterwards, it'll be a good workout.

"I've spoken to Nigel Clough about the game, and we can't really change it (the date) because we've got other fixtures, but we could maybe look at the times, the water breaks, the substitutions and things like that to make sure we do the right things and get the most we can out of the game."