BLADE STUNNER CUTS NO ICE AS WILDER LOOKS AHEAD

CHRIS WILDER claims Sheffield United’s stunning success last season now “counts for nothing”.

Wilder defied all expectations by leading United to a ninth-place finish in their first season back in the top flight for 12 years.

The Blades begin their new campaign against Wolves at Bramall Lane tonight and Wilder knows they are back to square one. He said: “The league position last season was fabulous for a newly-promoted side. e. But that counts for nothing.

“People will talk about second-season syndrome and being found out and there are the stats about teams struggling in their second season. All those stats are irrelevant from my point of view. We have to start the season in the same manner we did last season, with the same attitude. “We want to establish ourselves in the Premier League but nothing is taken for granted because we had a fabulous season last year. “We have to go out again, do the business. We feel we’ve put as much as we could have done into the players, so hopefully we can hit the ground running.” England Under-21 goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale (left) will start tonight following his return from Bournemouth and Wilder says he always suspected he would not get Dean Henderson back for a third season on loan.

Henderson signed a long-term deal at Manchester United to fight David De Gea for the No.1 spot. Wilder (right) said: “It was always going to play out like that.

“He was going to go and challenge for their No.1 position.”

SHEFF UNITED: Ramsdale, Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Baldock, Lundstram, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, McGoldrick, McBurnie

WOLVES: Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Traore, Moutinho, Neves, Dendoncker, Marcal, Podence, Jimenez REFEREE: Mike Dean

TV: Live on Sky Sports, kick-off 6pm