Man City's loanee Tommy Doyle's admission encourages Sheffield United

On loan from Mancgester City, the midfielder emerged as a driving force behind United’s climb to the top of the Championship table before suffering a fitness issue before the World Cup break. Now second but knowing that beating Hull City on Friday night would see them move 14 points clear of third-placed Watford, the rise of fellow loanee James McAtee has since weakened Doyle’s grip on a starting place with United introducing him from the bench during last weekend’s victory over Stoke City.

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But as he chases success on two fronts, with his team also preparing for an FA Cup fourth round tie against Wrexham, manager Paul Heckingbottom said: “Tommy feels ready to push on again now, really ready. I could quite easily have him in there (the eleven), no doubt about it. After what happened, he’s done a lot of work behind the scenes and I know he really believes he’s in a position to build on all of that again.”

The improvement in Doyle’s fitness has come at the ideal time for United, who could be without players including Iliman Ndiaye, Oli McBurnie, John Fleck, Rhian Brewster and Rhys Norrington-Davies for the meeting with Liam Rosenior’s side. More defensively-minded than McAtee, but more accomplished in the opposition’s final third than is often acknowledged, his presence provides Heckingbottom with greater tactical flexibility if he is forced to reorganise his forward line in the absence of McBurnie and Ndiaye, who hobbled-out of their game against Stoke.

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The Senegal international was assessed by Bramall Lane’s medical department earlier this week and, although he refused to specify the exact nature or extent of the problem he suffered, Heckingbottom insisted United’s leading goalscorer had volunteered to complete the fixture before coaching staff intervened.

“Tommy should score more goals than he does,” Heckingbottom said. “He’s got a hell of a shot on him so he can do a variety of different things in there. He’s pushing hard to come back in and that’s definitely something we’ll be considering.”

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