Championship
On Sunday afternoon, Leeds and Southampton meet at Wembley in the Championship play-off final.
Both Leeds and Southampton are determined to bounce back into the Premier League after suffering relegation last season.
Leeds is looking to recover from missing out on automatic promotionThe Whites finished third place in the Championship last season, six points adrift of second-place Ipswich Town.
Daniel Farke’s team ended the campaign in an inconsistent fashion. However, a 4-0 home win over Norwich City in the play-off semi-final second leg ended a three-game winless run in the second tier.
United’s recent games in the Championship, including the play-offs, have been relatively high-scoring, with over 2.5 goals scored in four of their last five matches. However, the Yorkshire outfit kept back-to-back clean sheets in both semi-final games against Norwich.
The clean sheets may not have been a surprise, as only Leicester, the champions, had a better defensive record in the Championship.
Southampton Looking to build on their decent runThe Saints finished fourth place in the Championship table. They are on a three-game unbeaten run in the second tier, including two wins and a draw.
However, the South Coast team’s record of three wins in their last six games is not great.
In the play-off semi-finals, Southampton recorded a 3-1 aggregate victory over West Brom.
Southampton’s recent league games have certainly not been short of goals, with over 2.5 goals scored in seven of their last nine Championship matches.
The Saints have enjoyed the better of the head-to-head record in recent years, winning three of their last five meetings between the pair. Russell Martin’s team won both meetings of the two teams in the regular Championship season.
What am I backing?There was so little between these two teams in the final Championship standings that it’s hard to judge. I believe this will be a close and even encounter, so the bet I am backing is the draw.
