Sheffield United v Preston North End team news: PNE unchanged, no Ben Davies for the Blades

He kept faith with the players who featured in last Saturday's 0-0 draw at Bristol City and chose not to include Connor Wickham who signed a short-term contract on Monday.

It meant another outing for front pair Emil Riis and Sean Maguire, while deadline-day signings Ali McCann and Josh Murphy were among the substitutes.

Former PNE defender Ben Davies was included in the home side's squad.

Davies, who is on loan at the Blades from Liverpool - to who North End sold him in a £1.6m deal in February - missed their 6-2 win over Peterborough on Saturday with a foot injury.

And it seems the PNE academy graduate had not recovered sufficiently to be involved.

The Blades gave a debut to goalkeeper Robin Olsen, their bench a strong one which included Rhian Bewster, Sander Bwerge, Oli McBurnie and Conor Hourihane.

Sheffield United: Olsen, Baldock, Egan. Robinson, Norrington-Davies, Norwood, Fleck, Gibbs-White, Ndiaye, Freeman, Sharp.. Subs: Basham, Brewster, Berge, McBurnlie, Bogle, Hourihane, Foderingham.

PNE: PNE: Iversen, Storey, Bauer, Hughes, van den Berg, Whiteman, Ledson, Earl, Johnson, Maguire, Riis. Subs: Lindsay, Cunningham, Browne, McCann, Murphy, Potts, Rudd.

Referee Geoff Eltringham (County Durham)

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