Sheffield United: Duo more than 'hopeful' of facing leaders Burnley this weekend
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Doyle, who is fast becoming one of United’s most influential players, missed Tuesday night’s win over Bristol City with a muscle complaint while Basham failed to complete the game after aggravating a hip complaint.
With Rhys Norrington Davies, Sander Berge, Max Lowe, Rhian Brewster and Jayden Bogle all unlikely to return until December, losing Basham and Doyle would deal a huge blow to United’s hopes of beating the Championship leaders and regaining their place in the automatic promotion positions.
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Hide AdBut Heckingbottom told The Star: “It’s where we’re at right now. Tommy travelled down with us (to Bristol) with the intention of being involved but his calf is a bit sore. It was too sore to take part here and we just cou;dn’t risk it - especially because of the situation we’re in.”
“With Bash, his hip flexor tightened up as it did during our last one (against West Bromwich Albion) so that’s something we’re keeping a close eye on as you can imagine,” he added. “But both of them, we’re really hopeful, should be okay for next time out. That’s our intention, our thinking, anyway.”
Despite being forced to reshuffle their plans when Doyle was forced to withdraw, United finished the match at Ashton Gate ranked third in the table following Iliman Ndiaye’s second-half strike. Together with Oli McBurnie, the Senegelese had also been on target 72 hours earlier when they overcame Carlos Corberan’s side in the Black Country.
Both Basham and Doyle, signed on loan from Manchester City, will now undergo intensive periods of treatment at United’s training complex in order to give themselves the best possible chance of facing the visitors from Lancashire. Ciaran Clark, making his first appearance since August after recovering from a soft tissue problem, replaced the 34-year-old at City but Heckingbottom will be loath to place too much responsibility on the Republic of Ireland international in order to prevent him from breaking down again.