Sheffield United face huge injury concern after rare home defeat before visit of West Brom

The Blades fell to a 2-0 Boxing Day defeat at the hands of promotion rivals Burnley - a run which ended a nine-match winning home run having drawn the first home clash of the campaign.

That result saw Leeds leapfrog United into top spot in the Championship on goal difference after the latter won at Stoke in the late kick-off.

To compound their misery, Sheffield United lost key loan centre-back Souttar in the closing stages to damage to his ankle. Australia international Souttar, who is on a season-long deal from Leicester, has been a key component of the first half of the campaign and is a giant figure in both boxes with his 6ft 6ins frame.

Wilder said: "There might be a big blow coming with Souttar because that didn’t look great, and his reaction to coming off wasn't good. He's a brave old soldier but that didn't look great.

"So we'll have to wait and see what the results of the scans are. It doesn't look good, but we'll see what happens when the results of the scan come through.” 

Fellow defender Rhys Norrington-Davies missed out through illness on Boxing Day, as did striker Rhian Brewster and winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who had a hamstring complaint. Midfielder Vinicius Souza, just back from a hamstring issue, was withdrawn at half-time.

Souttar also missed out for the Blades in their recent trip to The Hawthorns earlier this month, which ended with 2-2 with Carlos Corberan still in charge of the Baggies.

United had a defensive crisis that day, with fellow centre-back Anel Ahmedhodzic suspended. The Bosnian is now available but started as a substitute against the Clarets on Thursday.

Torbjorn Heggem opened the scoring for Albion against United on December 8 before the Blades struck with two quickfire goals from the ammunition of left-back Harrison Burrows. Tom Fellows salvaged the Baggies a point with a deflected strike in the second period.