Chris Wilder warns Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham: 'Players have to play well to get into the team and then play well to stay in''

Foderingham was beaten at his near post in the crunch Boxing Day defeat to Luton Town and was blamed by some for Aston Villa's equaliser days earlier. So manager Wilder has warned his place is at threat at away at Manchester City on Saturday.

In only his second month as a Premier League manager, Wilder took some by surprise when Dean Henderson let a Georginio Wijnaldum shot squirm through in a 1-0 defeat at Liverpool.

“I’m not going to put my arm around him," he said. "He wants to play at the highest level, he wants to play for Manchester United, he wants to play for England. He’s got to do a bit better, he’s got to concentrate a bit more.”

There will be no sugar-coating for Foderingham either.

"He'll feel it and he has to get over that," said Wilder.

"Everybody's been through that period as a player – I've had to suffer.

"We can't shy away from it and he'll be the first to admit there's certain situations we could have handled a bit better. This is the life and times of a goalkeeper.

"There can't be knee-jerk reactions but players have got to play well to get into the team and then play well to stay in the team. If you've got people knocking on the door of course I've got to look at my options.

"I've got to put my best team out on the pitch. This is not an 'I tell you what, we'll leave all our best players on the bench' moment, I've never known that.

"There might be times in cup competitions where you rest players, you've got injuries and knocks and you want to see other players in different environments but not when you're going to Man City.

"I'm a little bit nuts at times but I’m not that insane.

"Everything is up for grabs and I would expect the players that aren't playing would be knocking on the door and showing me in training.

"When the likes of (Will) Osula, (Rhian) Brewster and Anis (Slimane) get onto the pitch on Saturday there's always that opportunity to impress and it's up to them to take that."

Wales international and former Barnsley captain Adam Davies is the Blades' back-up goalkeeper.

Gustavo Hamer and Anel Ahmedhodzic are suspended for their fifth yellow cards this season, but Jayden Bogle returns from his ban. The Blades reported no fresh injuries but Tuesday cameos from Rhys Norrington-Davies and Brewster do not mean either is ready to start.

Tom Davies is a step closer to returning after resuming outdoor training this week.

Meanwhile, former Blades defender Kyle Walker insists City have now drawn a line under their stellar achievements in 2023 and have set their sights on a strong second half to the season.

This month they added the Club World Cup to this year’s first European Cup, as well as winning the Premier League, FA Cup and European Super Cup. They went to Saudi Arabia on the back of one win in six Premier League games.

“We desperately wanted to win (in Saudi) and finish off the piece,” said the 33-year-old. “It was good to finally tick that off the list.

“It’s important now to draw a line under it and it’s a big end to the season. I don’t think there was many things going wrong on the field except the results but this game is about winning and we weren’t doing that.”