Sheffield United Promotion Odds: Blades favourites for immediate Premier League return
Will Jackson 
Sheffield United's promotion odds would make them favourites to make an immediate return to the Premier League next season.
After a difficult ending to the Championship season, the Blades have steadied the ship and showed their class in the play-off semi-final win over Bristol City over two legs, booking a place in the showpiece final.
They're already favourites with online bookmakers to make an immediate return to the Premier League, and we've had a look at their potential opponents in the final, and how they've played against them this season.
Sheffield United Promotion Odds
Here are the latest Championship promotion odds along with our best free bet offers.
Sunderland
Sheffield United 1-0 Sunderland
Sunderland 2-1 Sheffield United
The two games between Sheffield United and Sunderland this season have left nothing between the sides, so it's hard to really know how much we can read into these games.
They were both played in the first half of the season before any January signings were made, so things could look very different if these two sides meet at Wembley this summer.
The match stats from each of the two games would back up the theory that there's not much between them, with the winning team fortunate to win on both occasions and ending up with the lower xG count - so it's all to play for.
Over the course of the season, Sunderland have been the stronger of the two teams in the league and would have finished much closer to the Blades but for the decision to rest and rotate players over the final weeks in preparation for a tilt at the play-offs.
They did hold a significant advantage in the football betting markets ahead of their second semi-final with Coventry and if it is not Sheffield United who get promoted, you would think the Black Cats are best placed to go up but it's hard to say that with any certainty at this stage given their recent form.
As mentioned, they tailed off significantly in the regular season and lost their last five games and had won only two games since the start of March as they gradually dropped out of contention for the top two places.
Yes the showed they can turn it back on for the odd game, but can they do it for three games in a row after becoming so accustomed to losing?
Coventry
Coventry 2-2 Sheffield United
Sheffield United 3-1 Coventry
We can read a bit more into the two games against Coventry, against whom Sheffield United have a 5-3 aggregate win with the latest coming towards the end of March.
That 3-1 win was billed as a potentially tricky tie at a time when the top three were all well in the conversation with regards to the automatic promotion places, but they coasted past them with a very impressive win.
It was after that game that they went on the run of form that cost them the top two spot with three successive defeats, but the memory of the with at Brammall Lane will surely be in the minds of both sides should they meet at Wembley.
Gus Hamer scored a stunning free-kick against his former team to kick things off and was superb throughout, while the 2-2 draw earlier in the season came even with the Blades reduced to 10 men in the first half.
Coventry were one of the sides who scraped into the top six, and you would hardly say they did so with a load of momentum behind them so you wouldn't be surprised to see their season peter out with a limp Wembley defeat.
Of the two potential opponents Sheffield United could have in the final, I'm pretty sure that given games so far this season, fans would snap your hands off to face Coventry rather than Sunderland.
But either way, you would expect them to back to team to get over the line against anyone and reassert their position as third best side in the Championship.
