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Birmingham City boss makes Sheffield United prediction and shares verdict on Romelle Donovan Sheffield United and Birmingham City will go head-to-head at Bramall Lane on Saturday teatime. Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has said he considers Sheffield United one of the biggest threats in the Championship ahead of Saturday’s season opener at Bramall Lane. Both the Blades and Birmingham will be looking to take advantage of the expanded play-off system introduced in the Championship this season, meaning clubs that finish seventh or eighth will still have a chance of earning promotion to the Premier League. United, who experienced a miserable start to last season by losing each of their first six league games, finished 13th, while Birmingham, who had been promoted from League One with a record-breaking points tally the previous season, finished 10th, four points ahead of Chris Wilder’s side. Although United have experienced a frustrating summer on the transfer front, struggling to bring in new faces while losing Andre Brooks and, most recently, Gustavo Hamer, Davies still considers the Blades a major threat, admitting his players will have to roll up their sleeves if they are to leave Bramall Lane with a positive result on Saturday evening. “They will have those hopes and expectations and I view them as one of the better teams in the league,” said Davies, as quoted by Birmingham Live. “They’re a big club, they’ve been used to getting out of this league, and always make it difficult. “We never gave ourselves a chance last season because of the red card. It was a tough day for us. It will be a battle and a fight and we will have to do a lot of things well to get a result. “At the same time, I’m really looking forward to it.” Saturday’s teatime showdown in S2 could see Brentford loanee Romelle Donovan make his first start for the Blades after being introduced as a substitute against Mansfield Town in the Carabao Cup last weekend. Donovan started his career at Birmingham before moving to the Gtech Community Stadium, initially on loan, in February 2025. Although he never made a competitive appearance under Davies at St Andrew’s, the Birmingham chief is a fan of the Blades loanee. “There was a lot of talk of Romelle when I first came and he really caught my eye in the first few weeks of training in terms of his energy, quality and the personality of such a young lad,” Davies added. “He played a few pre-season games – I remember one at Shrewsbury he did quite well in – but then as things went on, giving him regular game time at that point wasn’t something I could guarantee. “It was all very amicable and we spoke to his family and he decided to go a different route. I’m really pleased to see his career develop as it has done since he’s been at Brentford. He’s still young and I look forward to seeing him.