We’re down to the Championship Play-Off final again, as Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday battle it out for a place in the richest league in the world.
The Championship Play-Offs have acted as a great leveller this year. Brighton finished in third place, six and fifteen points ahead of Hull and Sheffield Wednesday respectively, yet they couldn’t carry this superiority through to their two-legged tie with the Owls. Now they watch on, wondering what might have been.
Hull City are no strangers to big games at this time of year, either finding themselves battling relegation from the Premier League or looking to gain promotion from the Championship, and they go into the game as favourites at 2.16. The Tigers delivered Jekyll and Hyde performances over their two-legged semi-final. They cruised to a terrific first leg 3-0 win away to Derby, and then they nearly blew their lead by losing 2-0 at home. Luckily for Steve Bruce’s side they scraped through and now they will hope they can deliver in this high pressure game.
This side has a host of quality players and when they click, it is easy to see why they are one of the best sides in the league. Abel Hernandez is an exciting attacking player, and has five goals in his last seven matches. Jake Livermore, a product of the Spurs academy, is a crucial part of their midfield engine room. Hull have the players to create chances and get in behind the Wednesday defence, they might be a good call to get the first goal at 1.78.
Contrary to their opposition, Sheffield Wednesday haven’t been this close to a Premier League place for a long time, but will high on confidence from beating a strong Brighton side. Carlos Carvalhal has got his side coming into form at just the right stage of the season after a sluggish start.
Fernando Forestieri provides the main goal scoring threat and he is ably supported by Gary Hooper up top. The excellent Ross Wallace adds goals from midfield. Wallace scored a long-range screamer against Brighton in the semi-final first leg and is very dangerous if afforded too much space around the eighteen yard box. If the Owls grab the lead, they have the resilient defence to keep Hull at bay; an away win to nil is great value at 4.08.
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