Sheffield United remain welded to the bottom of the Premier League after a narrow defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a game overshadowed by a heated scuffle between two Sheffield teammates.
Pablo Sarabia scored the game’s only goal with a flicked header, leaving goalkeeper Gribic rooted to the spot, which was just one of two shots on target that Wolves conjured all game.
United crafted a decent selection of chances, but the game will be chiefly remembered for an on-field brawl between Robinson and Souza.
Robinson berated his team mate shortly after Sheffield conceded, then the two locked horns, butting one another and aiming a several wayward swipes before the scrap was broken up.
A quick VAR review deemed there had been no violent conduct and the two faced no punishment.
Under-fire manager Chris Wilder played down the incident, saying: “I’m not going to be too critical about it as long as it didn’t overstep the line which obviously it didn’t.
“They’re two passionate boys who want to win, and got frustrated. We move on.”
After their 5-0 hammering by Brighton last week, the Blades put in a much improved performance, and will justifiably feel unfortunate to come away from Molineux empty-handed.
Rhian Brewster blasted a shot over the bar early on, and another quick counter-attack saw James McAtee one-on-one with Wolves keeper Jose Sa, but his weak effort was comfortably saved.
For all their chances it was Wolves who got the breakthrough after Sarabia drifted into the penalty area unmarked to direct Rayan Ait-Nouri’s into the goal.
Sheffield pushed for an equaliser, with McAtee sweeping wide and Brewster forcing a decent save out of Sa, but no cutting-edge could be found.
Wilder said: “I thought the players showed tremendous character. The team gave everything today, but we need to find that better moment, which they found for that goal and which we could not find for the second half.”
United’s leaky defence once again proved to be their downfall, and they have now conceded 66 goals after 26 games, the most by any team at this stage of a Premier League season.
The blades will now be looking ahead to their next game, where they will welcome in-form Arsenal. They have lost back-to-back home games 5-0, while Arsenal have scored 15 goals in their last three league games.
It does not bode well for Wilder’s men, and a return to the Championship seems more likely than not.
