Play Off Preview

West Ham celebrate a return to the Premier League and £90 million

After a hectic last day of the season last Saturday, the Play Offs are about to take place. We already know that Bradford will face Northampton in the League 2 play off final, and that Brentford and Yeovil will play each other in the League 1 final, I'll be previewing these matches later.

 

But now to what they call Football's Richest Prize, the Championship Play Offs, whoever wins gets £90 million pounds and a return, or in Brighton's case, a first trip to the Premier League.

 

The two semi finals are;

Leicester vs Watford

Thursday 9th May with return leg on Sunday 12th May

Crystal Palace vs Brighton

Friday 10th May with return leg on Monday 13th May

 

First Leicester vs Watford, Leicester crept in to the Play Offs on the last day with a late goal to beat play off contenders Nott'm Forest. Watford missed out on promotion also to a late goal by Leeds and Ross McCormack. They will be hoping to make a return to the top flight after their last run was brief.

My prediction for the first game is Leicester 1-0 Watford, Leicester will be strong and have high motivations for the play offs whilst Watford will be down after just missing out on promotion. In the second game Watford will fight back, but it won't be enough, I say a 1-1 draw at Vicarge Road to take Leicester to the final.

 

In the second game, Crystal Palace face Brighton in a huge derby for both teams. Palace will be hoping to make a return after being relegated in season 2004-05. Brighton have never been in the Premier League but have been in Division 1, this would be their first return to the top flight for 30 years. The first game I see a 1-1 draw and in the second game I think Brighton win 1-0. This will mean Brighton will go through 2-1 on aggregate.

 

So for the final I say that Brighton will be in the Premier League for the first time. They look the best side going into the play offs and they will win in the final 2-0.

 

In League 1, I see Yeovil going through, after the end to Brentford's season, they will be down and Yeovil will be more confident. I say Yeovil 2-1 Brentford.

 

In League 2, I see Bradford going up. With the way they have been playing recently, they look the better side (sorry Northampton) and are more experienced for what they will see at Wembley after their exploits in the Capital One Cup, but this is the closest call I have had to make whilst writing this. I say Bradford 1-0 Northampton.

 

That is all for this blog, blogs I will be uploading for the 2012/13 season include;

Thursday 5pm: Transfer Targets
Friday 5pm: Leeds Season review and awards
27th May 9pm: Play Off Review

You can follow me on Twitter @AJWoodward29, and keep up to date with this blog @LUFCWorld