Former England striker Michael Owen is expecting a tightly contested affair when Sheffield United travel to face Aston Villa in the early evening kick-off.

The Blades lost their season-opener against Wolves last weekend and, with Villa also looking to get points on the board after having their first game of the season postponed, Owen doesn’t believe there will be a lot of goals in this fixture:

“Sheffield United had an incredible season last time around and will have been shell-shocked to find themselves two goals down after just 6 minutes against Wolves in their first match of the new season. Credit to the players for not panicking and actually giving as good as they got for the remainder of the game and I’m sure they will go on to have another successful season. Neither of these sides are likely to be free-scoring this season and both teams will be anxious to get a point on the board so I can see this game ending in a low-scoring 1-1 draw.”

Chris Wilder‘s side were excellent away from home during their first season in the Premier League, having lost only six games on the road, while Villa’s home record is somewhat of a mixed bag.

Their form at Villa Park did keep them up last campaign, but they only won seven of their 19 games, with nine defeats along the way. In all honesty, they should have lost the corresponding fixture back in June, with an error from Hawkeye preventing United from picking up all three points.