Priestfield Stadium plays host to a League Two vs. Premier League encounter in the FA Cup this weekend as Gillingham Square off against Sheffield United.
Gillingham are having a solid campaign in League Two and currently sit 10th in the league table, just one point outside of the playoff places.
They’d hoped things would have been much better this season as they entered the campaign with hopes of a serious push for automatic promotion, but after a promising start those hopes dissipated fairly quickly.
Their form on the whole has been mediocre of late with Stephen Clemence’s side having won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five games.
However, those two wins have come in both of their last two games - the most recent being a 1-0 win away at Colchester United thanks to a Scott Malone goal in the second half - so they’ll feel in good shape ahead of this one.
Overall their form at home has been solid too, with Clemence’s men having won three of their last five games on home soil.
Gillingham generally falter at this stage of the FA Cup having lost six of their last seven ties in the third round and it’s going to take a big performance to reverse that here.
Given they’ve lost nine out of their last eleven against Premier League opponents it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this would be a landmark victory, and considering they’re facing the worst side the Premier League has to offer, judging by the league table, they might not have a better opportunity to claim such a scalp in a while.
Sheffield United are having a pretty gloomy season in the Premier League this year.
Many fancied them for relegation heading into the season but few expected them to be quite this uncompetitive as they enter this game rock bottom of the league table, seven points from safety.
They relieved manager Paul Heckingbottom of his duties and reappointed former boss Chris Wilder in an attempt to reverse their fortunes, and thus far that looks likely to be an unsuccessful attempt as they enter this game having won one, drawn one and lost four Wilder’s six games in charge - albeit with a pretty tough fixture schedule.
It’s hard to predict how Wilder might approach this game; his side are embroiled in a relegation battle and can’t afford any injuries, but on the other hand they desperately need to try and build some momentum so a win in this game is pretty important.
The likelihood is that he’ll go for this one as another defeat could really damage the squad’s already fragile morale.
For our Gillingham vs. Sheffield United prediction, we’re going for a 3-1 win for the away side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.