Steve says his counterpart may keep him guessing over team selection

Crewe Alexandra boss Steve Davis says his counterpart Nigel Clough may elect to shuffle his pack for tonight’s FA Cup replay at Bramall Lane. Clough has always taken the domestic cup competitions extremely seriously and will be looking to go as far as he can in the FA Cup again this year. The Blades reached last season’s FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, eventually losing a thriller 5-3 to Hull City.

They recently exited the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Walsall, but still have a League Cup quarter-final to look forward to against the surprise of the season, Southampton.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “We can plan as much as we can but you don’t know what their line-up is going to be until we get the team-sheet. 

“Nigel likes to have a good run in all the cups and he has looked to rotate his players as much as he can because it is never easy playing two games a week.

“They have been playing Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday for much of the season and I’m sure Nigel has looked to freshen things up. He has a good enough squad to do that.

“He may choose to do that but I would imagine he will select the strongest team he has available. He will want to do well in the cups again but I’m sure he really wants to be involved in that shake up at the end of the season and will be trying his best to get automatic promotion.

   The boss added: “It is a game we are all looking forward to and it’s an exciting tie because we know a lot about each other now.”