Sheffield United warned they must up their points per game average to secure automatic promotion

Manager Paul Heckingbottom delivered the message as his second placed side prepares to face the division’s bottom club Wigan Athletic at Bramall Lane tomorrow afternoon before travelling to leaders Burnley on Monday.

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United enter the meeting with the visitors from Lancashire having won all of their last three outings, with one of those victories coming against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

However, Heckingbottom is still not satisfied with some aspects of United’s recent performances and, with Middlesbrough and Luton Town hoping to overtake them during the closing stages of the campaign, told The Star: “We’ve got to improve and get better, without a doubt. There’s things we have been working on, where I believe we can do that, for sure.”

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Returning 1.92 across the course of the campaign, United’s PPG stands at 1.6 since the beginning of February. Middlesbrough, in third, and Luton, who are behind Michael Carrick’s side on goal difference alone, have both recorded exactly two across the same period. They face each other at Kenilworth Road on April 24th, 48 hours after United meet Manchester City in the semi-finals of the cup.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ve got to up certain aspects of what we do,” Heckingbottom said. “As I say, there’s things we can do much more effectively, even though the lads are obviously still doing a lot right. We’ve got to aim to do that.”

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