Centre stage for Eric

Eric Dier is relishing the opportunity to show what he can do in central defence.

The England international has lined-up centrally in our last six matches and partnered Davinson Sanchez in our two games so far following the Premier League’s return against Manchester United and West Ham.

Outstanding in the 2-0 win against West Ham on Tuesday, Eric, 26, and now with 237 appearances for us under his belt, believes he can flourish in the role, a view shared by Jose Mourinho.

“It’s not something that changed overnight for me, it’s a feeling I’ve had for a long time,” Eric told us after that victory against the Hammers at the new stadium. “That was always my feeling, where I saw myself and where I thought I could excel the most.

“I’m really happy to be getting my chance to try and prove myself there and I feel like I can really excel there.

“I can still improve on lots of things but I’m happy we got the clean sheet against West Ham. I felt like we deserved a clean sheet against Manchester United and I’m really disappointed for my part in that (Eric gave away a somewhat unfortunate penalty late on) having had such a good team performance.

“I thought we defended well throughout the whole game against United, just that sloppy moment, so I’m really happy that we got the clean sheet against West Ham.”

Sheffield United are next up at Bramall Lane on Thursday (2 July, 6pm).