Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom on why his side have huge ‘motivation’ to beat Baggies

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom believes the knowledge that they can go level on points with the Baggies following a win on Wednesday evening is motivation enough to get the job done.

West Brom currently sit on 45 points, occupying the final play-off spot in the Championship table with the Blades sat in tenth on 42 though Heckingbottom’s men do have two games in hand.

The league is incredibly tight at this moment in time and every result matters, especially when playing those around you.

A win for West Brom would once again close the gap between them and the automatic promotion places whereas a win for United and suddenly, out of nowhere, the top two looks a possibility for them.

And the opportunity to gain ground on a team above them, is, according to Heckingbottom, the only motivation his side need.

“We were expecting a tough, difficult game anyway but as often happens when you get a new manager, everyone will be out to impress,” he said.

“We’re not too sure what Steve will do, how many changes, what changes he will make but he will certainly want to imprint his own identity on the team.

“We’re just looking after ourselves in respect to that.

“We’ll do as much homework as we can but like I say, a lot of it may be irrelevant. So, we’ll do all the prep anyway and see what team is announced before kick-off but our focus will be on us and how we approach the game.

“That’s the target to keep chasing teams down above us.

“There’s no bigger or greater motivation than when you can get a win against someone above you and catch them up. Of course that is on everyone’s minds but again it’s how we approach it and how we perform that will give us the best possible chance.

“We are focusing on us and what we want to bring and how we want to perform at Bramall Lane.

The former Barnsley boss claims Albion will come as a bit of an unknown entity under new manager Steve Bruce but if anything, he believes they now pose even more of a threat to his team.

“We fully respect West Brom and if anything we think they are going to be even more dangerous with Steve just taking over as his first game but we want to perform, we want to perform for the fans and we want the fans to get behind us.”

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