The Sky Bet Championship Play-offs get underway on Monday evening when the first legs of both semi-finals take place. They do so in front of supporters as well with fans allowed back into Football League grounds for the first time this calendar year.
The four sides on show on Monday evening will be eyeing up a two-legged victory to book their place at Wembley a week on Saturday to play off for the last remaining place in the Premier League next term.
Where to watch
Both the first legs will be played out on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels. The build up show begins at 5.30pm with the first game kicking off at 6pm and the second one at 8.15pm.
Bournemouth vs Brentford (18.00)
The first semi-final to get underway is the one which many judges think the team that will eventually get promoted will come from as AFC Bournemouth look to take a step closer to an immediate return to the Premier League when they host Brentford.
Brentford fans won’t need me to remind them of the heartache they have suffered in the play-offs down the years, but sometimes you have to feel pain to enjoy success and the Londoners will be hoping that is the case with them. Bournemouth were not hoping to be in the play-offs but now they will be delighted that they are, even though they come in here off the back of three straight defeats, each without scoring, and one of them extremely significant as it came against this opponent when they lost 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium at the beginning of that run.
I fancy Brentford to win this match but I’m expecting a tight game here given what is at stake. I suspect the priority for both coaches will be to ensure that they are in the tie heading to London on Saturday so risk taking and grabbing the bull by the horns might have to wait until the weekend. These two sides are pretty well structured and although the better game winners lie in the Brentford side, they will know Bournemouth can be dangerous. I just don’t see either team taking many risks here so I expect this to be a low scoring first leg before the tie sparks into life on Saturday. Even at 7/10 I like under 2.5 goals here.
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Barnsley vs Swansea City (20.15)
The second semi-final will get underway at Oakwell where Barnsley will look to build on their fine end to the campaign when they go up against a Swansea City side who will be out to go better than they did in the play-offs last season.
The Welsh outfit were dumped out at this stage by Brentford last term and a repeat will not be a part of their plans that is for sure. They are going to have to have come out of a slump which saw them finish their season with just one win in their last five and only three wins in their last 11, one of which was against relegated Sheffield Wednesday and another against a Derby County side who should have gone down too. Barnsley finished the season on fire. They won four of their last seven and held the champions Norwich in that time as well so they will be full of confidence here.
Swansea might have the best defensive record of the four sides in the play-offs but they are also the lowest scoring team and that lack of a potent goal threat concerns me greatly here. Barnsley certainly don’t lack for goals, confidence or energy and if they get on top of the midfield Swansea might have issues living with them. Barnsley are sure to give this everything as they’ll need to take a lead to Wales to have any chance in the tie you would think. They can approach this normally because away goals don’t count and if there is a winner in the match I think it could be the more confident Barnsley unit.
Tips
WON – Back Bournemouth vs Brentford – Under 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.70 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back Barnsley (-0.25AH) to beat Swansea City for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with Bet365
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