Sheffield United are fitter than when they started their Premier League campaign, which is bad news for relegation-threatened Aston Villa whom they face on the opening night of Project Restart on June 17.
Midfielder Oliver Norwood, among three Blades players in the Premier League’s top 10 for distance covered per game, says manager Chris Wilder’s rigorous lockdown programme has paid dividends.
‘I’d do 45-minute bike sessions before breakfast, running in the afternoon, weight sessions four times a week. We needed the weekends off, it was gruelling to be honest,’ says Norwood, one of United’s stand-out players in their remarkable season to date.