Chris Wilder sees Sheffield United 'close to our max' in 3-0 win over Chelsea

The victory puts the Blades up to sixth in the Premier League, although Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal have a game in hand at the weekend.

It was a performance two-goal David McGoldrick described as showing the best of a team which have upset the odds all season.

“It's a really good performance to get a result against Chelsea, it had to be,” he said after a well-deserved win against a team chasing Champions League qualification.

“We had to be at our max and we were close to it.”

To finish sixth will definitely qualify them for Europe, even eighth could see them into the Europa League but even with only three matches to play, their manager is refusing to contemplate that.

“It's just onto the next game,” he said. “No one's talked about it.

“It's nothing from our point of view, we're just after another performance from the players. They look as if they're enjoying their football, we're back into the rhythm pre-lockdown and they're leaving it all out there. We have to do that.

“We're at it and we'll certainly need to be at it on Thursday (when they travel to Leicester City).

“It's always been my approach (not to look too far ahead). It's very dangerous to get carried away with ourselves.

“They're enjoying the challenge. Leicester have been fabulous this year and yet again we're going to have to roll out another big performance.”

What delighted Wilder the most was that his side followed up a tremendous and draining last-minute victory over Wolves in midweek.

“We had to back it up,” he insisted. “We always have to put a lot of effort into every game we play but especially the Wolves game and we had to back it up because no manager wants a spike team. We've had to be very consistent in our approach.

“We took our chances, the bit in the middle was possibly dominated by them but the bit in both boxes was fabulous and clinical when we had the opportunity to stick the ball in the back of their net, we did.”

Only a few weeks ago the Blades looked as though they might even struggle to finish in the top half, but they have brilliantly overcome a post-resumption wobble, taking 10 points from the last 12 available.

“In the first couple of games after the lockdown we kind of forgot what we were about and since the Arsenal game in the FA Cup we've started to be on the front foot and the results have proved why we are where we are,” said the striker, whose only previous goals this season had come in the FA Cup. “Thirty-five games in, the points don't lie in the table.

“That truly is our best.”

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard admitted his side had been outfought by the Blades.

“Sheffield United are a team that play in a really certain way, a really unique way,” he said. “The players knew all the information they needed. If you are going to play with a low technical level and not going to compete at the level you need to, it doesn’t matter how you set up tactically. We matched up second half, still didn’t compete as much as I thought we should.”

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