PAUL Heckingbottom wants Sheffield United to "choke the life" out of Middlesbrough and their fellow promotion rivals and tighten their grip on second place.

Heckingbottom admits Wednesday's night's visit of his team's nearest rival Boro is a "huge game" as Michael Carrick's side look to close the gap on the automatic promotion places.

Sheffield United are 10 points clear of Boro and have a game in hand, but an away win at Bramall Lane on Wednesday would certainly have the Blades looking over their shoulder, especially with Carrick's side in such exceptional form.

Heckingbottom has, unsurprisingly, been extremely impressed with Carrick's impact on Teesside.

"He's doing a good job," the Sheffield United boss told Yorkshire Live.

"Watching them play now, there are lots of players who look like they are really comfortable in the set-up and how they want to play. It brings the best out of them. You can see how he wants to set his team up. I would guess he has a real idea of what he wants his team to look like and they are getting closer to that vision that he has in his head.

"They have set up in a 4-2-3-1 to try and play and look then to try and play beyond a team's midfield and then come alive. It's been working really well for them.

"They are a team playing with a lot of confidence and they will bring that to Bramall Lane. We know it's going to be a good game and a really tough one.

"We are looking forward to it for that reason. They will bring their following down and we will have our following there in full voice under the lights and it will be a really good game against two good teams."

Sheffield United warmed up for Boro with a comfortable 3-0 dismantling of Swansea City at the weekend and, despite the importance of Wednesday's game, Heckingbottom insists the preparation remains the same. But he has called on his team to end any lingering hopes the chasing pack have of catching the Blades.

He says:  "It won't be all about one game, the preparation for Middlesbrough will be the same for Swansea. The expectation we put on ourselves will be the same as Swansea and the same in the remaining games.

"Nothing changes. The only thing that changes is belief in other people and what's talked about.

"Our approach to these 16 games is the same. Every game is big. Middlesbrough, Millwall and Watford, these are huge games. But what we have spoken about is the better we can do we can almost choke the life out of other teams. That's what we want to do."

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The Blades have been dealt a major blow ahead of the Boro game, with Billy Sharp looking likely to miss out having suffered an ankle injury against Swansea. But Oli McBurnie is fit to start and Daniel Jebbison will be back in the squad after serving a three-match ban.

Heckingbottom said: "Billy is a big doubt. He's got a walking boot on to take as much pressure as possible off that ankle. He has had an X-ray and it's come back all clear, but there is swelling, so there is an issue there.

"He would be a big loss because of the position he plays and where we are light."