A bonus midweek preview! The Championship, League One and League Two Play-Off Finals await!
Wembley will be a busy stadium this weekend, THREE Finals await, three chances for promotion to three hopeful clubs wishing to rise through the ranks of English football. We have Play-Off Finals in the Championship (2nd tier), League One (3rd tier) and League Two (4th tier) with some clubs hoping to get back to where they belong, and some teams hoping to make history! Games like this are like no other, expect drama all the way!
Not sure who to take a punt on? Then read our preview and place your bets wisely!
Contents:
- EFL Championship – Play-Off Final – Coventry City vs Luton Town
- EFL League One – Play-Off Final – Barnsley vs Sheffield Wednesday
- EFL League Two – Play-Off Final – Carlisle United vs Stockport County
EFL Championship – Play-Off Final – Coventry City vs Luton Town
There are football stories, and then there is this. Both Coventry City and Luton Town were playing in League Two (the 4th tier of English football) together as late as the 2017-18 season and now they are one game away from the Premier League. With victory earning you around £170 million (such is the benefit of playing in the Premier League), both teams will be desperate to win the “most valuable game in football.”
Coventry City were ever-presents in the English top-flight for 34 years until, in 2000-01, they experienced relegation and have since suffered a 22-year absence from the Premier League. Now, this is their best chance of returning amongst the English elite. Let’s not forget that, during this period, the Sky Blues have faced financial turmoil so strong that they were exiled from their own stadium on two occasions, needing to play elsewhere alongside trying to rise through the English divisions. Through it all, from League Two to now, has been manager Mark Robins, who’s a victory away from being only the second manager in history to take a team from the 4th tier of English football to the 1st. Coventry have never lost an EFL Play-Off match before (won 3, drawn 2), will Luton stop them?
Coventry aren’t the only team to have a remarkable story. Luton Town were crashing down through the leagues 15 years ago (Championship, League One, League Two) before a 30-point deduction in 2009-10 saw them relegated outside of the EFL for the first time in 89 years. The Hatters, slowly but surely, have made their way from the 5th tier back up to the Championship, with midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu playing a key role every season and division along the way. Can he be the first player to go from the 5th tier to the 1st with the same club? Luton were relegated just one year before the inception of the Premier League (1991-92 season), can they make it back to the top-flight for the first time in 31 years?
EFL League One – Play-Off Final – Barnsley vs Sheffield Wednesday
Who can make it back into the Championship? Both Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday were regulars in the 2nd tier for a number of years, but recent relegations have meant a revival was needed. This is the revival, but only one team will be promoted from League One!
Barnsley were relegated from the Championship just last year so what an opportunity it is for Michael Duff’s men to bounce right back. For the last 25 years they’ve been bouncing between these two divisions but the Championship is where they want to be, and beating Sheffield Wednesday will give them just that. Fortunately for the Tykes, they’ve already beaten Sheffield Wednesday on two occasions this season, home and away, and now all that awaits is Wembley for the chance of three victories in-a-row. They’ve made it to the Final thanks to a 2-1 aggregate win over Bolton in the Semi-Final, only one step remains!
Sheffield Wednesday finished 10 points ahead of Barnsley in the league table, only missing out on automatic promotion by 2 points, but the Owls so nearly blew their opportunity of promotion via the play-offs. In the Semi-Finals, they lost the 1st Leg 4-0 against Peterborough, needing a huge miracle to turn things around. Fortunately for them, on a night at Hillsborough, they did just that. In one of the greatest comebacks in EFL history, Sheffield Wednesday won 5-1 in the 2nd Leg (5-5 on aggregate) before winning on a penalty shoot-out to keep their hopes of promotion alive. Once a Premier League regular, Sheffield Wednesday had found themselves in the Championship for the best part of two decades before relegation to League One two years ago. Here is their chance to get back up the leagues.
EFL League Two – Play-Off Final – Carlisle United vs Stockport County
The Wembley arch awaits for Carlisle United and Stockport County. It’s Carlisle’s best chance of promotion since they lost in the Play-Off Semi-Finals in 2016-17, now a total of 9 years in League Two and, prior to this season, many fans thought a chance of promotion was near impossible. After all, in the last campaign they finished 20th out of 24, but a remarkable season this year (5th) has given them a chance to return to League One for the first time since 2013-14. They finished as the third-highest scorers in the league (66 goals), a large chunk of those thanks to striker Kristian Dennis, responsible for 20 of these and the hope is that he adds to his tally in their most crucial game of the season. It’s a long trip from Cumbria down to London, but Carlisle fans will be there in their numbers to hopefully witness history.
So too with fans of Stockport County. Whilst Carlisle in 2013-14 were relegated to League Two, Stockport were even further down the pyramid, the National League North, the 6th tier of English football! This weekend at Wembley, Dave Challinor’s men have the chance to achieve 3 promotions in just 4 years, a chance for two back-to-back! After all, they were only promoted from the National League (5th tier) into League Two last season, so what an opportunity it is for the Cheshire side to catapult themselves up the divisions. They beat local rivals Salford City in the Semi-Final via a penalty shoot-out after originally losing the 1st Leg to give them a chance to face Carlisle, a team they have not lost to yet this season (won 1, drawn 1). What about with the pressure of a Wembley Final?