Leeds United will find out who they will face at Wembley Stadium a week on Sunday when the second leg of the other Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final is played on Friday night as Southampton host West Bromwich Albion.
Much like the other semi-final, this tie is perfectly poised with the second leg beginning at 0-0 so we have a one game shootout for the right to face Leeds United at Wembley Stadium next weekend for the final place in the Premier League.
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 beginning at 7pm ahead of the 8pm kick off at St Mary’s.
Southampton
This has been one of those campaigns for Southampton that just when it looks like they have been building up a head of steam they will come unstuck. As a result of that they were unable to launch a significant challenge for the top two this season and will now need to rely on winning the play-offs if they are going to achieve their aim of an immediate return to the Premier League. They did much of the hard work in the first leg and will now be favourites to finish the job off.
Saints will walk out in front of their home fans having won 15 of their 23 matches on home soil in the regular season, notching 54 goals in those games so St Mary’s has been good to them but they are the favourites to win the tie from here and they will need to handle that pressure, especially if they don’t happen to get themselves in front as early as say Leeds United did on Thursday evening. There are goals in this Southampton side so if they keep the back door closed they will be confident of progressing here.
West Bromwich Albion
This has definitely been a positive season for West Bromwich Albion. Having missed out on the postseason last term, the Baggies have never really looked like not being in them this time around, although they did need to ensure they won on the final day of the campaign just to ensure they got their chance. They were the side of the four that few were talking about because they aren’t as flashy as the other three but they have a pretty solid defensive record which could be of use to them.
West Brom pushed hard to get the advantage in the first leg but they couldn’t quite achieve it and now they know they have to go on the road and get the win they need to send themselves to Wembley. They will look to sit into the game for the initial period and then feed on any anxiety that might come from the stands. Set plays will be a key part of the Baggies armoury in this second leg but they will need to go better than a 6-8-9 away record in the regular season.
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Team News
Southampton boss Russell Martin suggested that he left Che Adams out of the squad for the first leg in a bid for him to be ready to compete in this second leg. He is hopeful his forward is available but Stuart Armstrong is out.
West Brom could bring in the creative element of Jed Wallace into their side from the start of his huge game. Tom Fellows was the man of the match in the first leg but could be the one to make way as Carlos Corberan looks for experience.
Betting
Usually these matches catch fire in the second leg but I’m not convinced that this one is going to because the stakes are pretty high and we have a couple of sides who are suddenly looking decent enough defensively opposing each other. They’re not flourishing in front of goal at the minute though either and the longer this one goes without a goal the more it could tighten right up with both teams not wanting to make the mistake which could cost them rather than take a risk and go out and get the winner.
Southampton have failed to score in three of their last four matches and were generally pretty well contained in the first leg while West Brom, who lack an out and out striker, have gone goalless in three of their last five. The first leg was more open than in the other tie but there wasn’t an abundance of chances and with West Brom likely to sit deeper and rely on counters and set plays I’m not convinced this one will ignite. The odds against on under 2.5 goals looks a little too big to me here.
Tips
Back Under 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Sky Bet
