In his pre-match press conference, Simon Grayson revealed that Keith Keane and Joe Garner should be good to go if required on Saturday.
Keane had been scheduled to have an operation on an on-going hernia problem today, but that has been postponed due to Paul Connolly picking up a slight hamstring problem in Tuesday night’s match against Crawley Town.
Joe Garner missed that encounter following a knee injury he picked up against Tranmere Rovers but he is also pencilled in for a return against Sheffield United if selected.
“He was going to have his operation today but Paul Connolly came off with a tight hamstring on Tuesday night so we have postponed it to next week now,” said Grayson when asked about Keith Keane’s injury status.
“Joe Garner took a bang on his knee on Saturday but the likelihood is that he will probably train this morning, so I think Conns [Paul Connolly] and Beav [Stuart Beavon] will be the only two who I have a concern about for the weekend.
The gaffer and his charges head to Bramall Lane on Saturday eager to finish the campaign with a win and Grayson is looking forward to a big game atmosphere as two well established sides in the English game lock horns.
He continued: “There will be a cracking atmosphere; they always have great gates over at Bramall Lane.
“The team will want to go into the Play-Offs with some sort of momentum; they lost at Crewe the other night so they will like to finish in a positive manner because I think it is important that if you finish in good spirits then it can take you into the Play-Off semi-finals.
“We know we are in for a tough game but they will as well, they will have seen us over the last few weeks and seen how well we can play.
“They will be favourites because of where they are in the division and they are at home.
“All we have to do is try and bounce back after the disappointing defeat at Crawley the other night.
“There is no better game to end the season for the players, a Roses match, a big crowd, players wanting to perform well against some good players who are trying to get into the Championship, so it’s a good test for us and it’s a game everybody should be looking forward to.”
No Preston North End manager has won away at the Blades since Nobby Stiles more than 30 years ago, a stat the gaffer is keen to amend as he said: “Records are there to be broken, so hopefully that can be the case at the weekend.”