Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 11:15 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 23:41

Sheffield United was officially relegated from the Premier League on Saturday evening. On a visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers, manager Paul Heckingbottom’s team fell 1-0 after an hour of play, which was ultimately not polished away. Although there are still six rounds of play ahead for the Blades, who are last with 14 points, the distance to number seventeen Burnley (33) is too far to be able to bridge. Sheffield equals the negative record set by Ipswich Town (1994/95), Derby County (2007/08) and Huddersfield Town (2018/19) as the earliest relegation in Premier League history.

In the first half Wolverhampton was the parent, although they did not succeed in expressing the slight field predominance on the scoreboard. The greatest opportunity was noted by Willy Boly. The defender got the leather after a carom in front of his feet, but then ran into John Egan. In an attempt by Egan to clean up, the Sheffield defender shot into Boly’s back, after which the ball hit the crossbar and was cleared from the goal line.

The opening goal eventually came after an hour of play. After a nice action on the right side of the field, Adama Traoré delivered the ball to Willian José, who finished cool-blooded from within the five-meter area. In the final phase, the visitors hoped to get back into the game via Lys Mousset, but goalkeeper Rui Patrício saved the goal. On behalf of the Wolves Romain Saïss made another contribution, but the score on the scoreboard did not change anymore.