The match which is dubbed ‘The richest match in football’ takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon when Coventry City take on Luton Town in what is one of the more fairytale Championship play-off finals in recent times.
The prize on offer for the winner at Wembley is huge. Coventry would return to the Premier League while Luton would grace the competition they voted in for the very first time. Whoever wins a remarkable story will be completed.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up at Wembley beginning at 4pm and kick off at the quirky time of 4.45pm.
Coventry City
If you had said when we entered October that the Sky Blues would be in the top half of the table there wouldn’t have been many who would have believed you let alone actually make the play-offs and then beat Middlesbrough to make it through to the final. That is before you mention the fact that five years ago they were just coming out of League 2 and this was all a complete pipedream, however on Saturday afternoon it becomes the reality.
A lot is said about the deadly duo of Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer but Coventry are more than just those two. They had the joint second most clean sheets in the regular season, behind runaway champions Burnley and matched only by their opponents here so they are hard to break down and when you have two game changers in your side of the quality of those two named you are going to give yourself every chance.
Luton Town
In terms of the fact that Luton Town made the play-offs in the Championship last season, all of this probably isn’t a huge surprise but if you take their story back in time nine years to where they were still in the National League, to be on the verge of the Premier League within a decade is an incredible achievement. The Hatters aren’t interested in getting to the edge of things though. They are driven and motivated by success and will very much be making the short trip down the M1 eager to win.
A 14-match unbeaten run to close out the regular season ensured that Rob Edwards’ men finished third in the division this term, 10 points above the team they meet for a place in the Premier League. They showed in the semi-final that they can overcome adversity when they overcame a first leg deficit against Sunderland to reach this final. Only Burnley conceded fewer goals than Luton in the regular season while strike pair of Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo have 30 strikes between them this term.
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Team News
Coventry boss Mark Robins has suggested he has no fresh injury problems so his only missing players could well be Calum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer who have been missing throughout the latter part of the campaign.
Luton boss Rob Edwards has stressed that the only player he will be missing for this match is forward Cauley Woodrow. Skipper Sonny Bradley plays his final game in a Luton shirt should he be involved in the match.
Betting
I am way too emotionally involved in this match to give anything that could even resemble a balanced opinion on the main markets for this game but everything we have seen over the course of the season and the history of this particular play-off final would tell us to expect a tight game. I wouldn’t read too much into the two league meetings between the two sides. Both were draws but Nathan Jones lost his marbles and rested Tom Lockyer for the game at Kenilworth Road while the Coventry clash was the first start for Marvelous Nakamba and he has grown from there.
This final is historically tough to bet on. Often the size of the prize dictates a tight and tense match but those who do like a bet with a bit of logic attached to it could do worse than take the 7/5 that Jordan Clark has a shot on target. In the second leg of the semi-final, Middlesbrough midfielder Riley McGree had four shots at goal. He didn’t hit the target with any of them but the fact he got into a position to shoot will encourage Clark, the most forward of the Luton midfielders. He should have hit the target in the second leg of their semi-final when he went for the top corner rather than just putting the ball on goal but he has the quality to test the keeper and with Coventry a side who don’t mind opposing midfielders having the ball, Clark should see more than enough of it to prosper.
Tips
Back J.Clark – At least 1 Shot on Target for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with William Hill
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