The so-called “Richest game in football” is back, the Championship play-off final.
Sunderland AFC face Sheffield United in a game which determines who will be joining Leeds United and Burnley in the Premier League next season.
Both are huge clubs that have been on very different trajectories over the past few years, but will equally be hoping to return to the top flight.
It has been eight years since Sunderland last tasted Premier League football, following their relegation in the 2016/17 season that ended up being back-to-back down to League One.
United have been somewhat of a yo-yo team, with a promotion to the Prem two seasons ago followed up by a relegation last season.
Their different trajectories have extended to this season, with a 14-point difference between the two, which represents the biggest between two finalists in the history of the play-offs.
They also had two very different semi-finals.
Semi-Finals
United dominated Bristol City 3-0 in both legs, to comfortably book their place at Wembley with not much jeopardy and give themselves a bit of momentum going into the final.
The Black Cats have momentum from their semi, but for very different reasons.
Dan Ballard’s 120th-minute header secured a 3-2 aggregate win at the Stadium of Light over Coventry City, with them recovering after being under the cosh for much of the second leg.
Going into the play-offs, Regis Le Bris’ side hadn’t won their previous seven games, having effectively nothing to play for in the last few games.
They got themselves into a position where they knew that they would finish in the top six but were too far away from the automatic places.
The Blades were fighting for automatics up until the third-from-last game, which they lost to Burnley and secured their fate at having to go through the dreaded play-offs.
Relegated from the Premier League last season, on paper, the United squad has more experience than Sunderland, however, the Black Cats have youth on their side.
United’s play-off record is the worst in English football, with zero successes from their nine attempts and not a single goal scored in the four finals they have played in.
Winning at Wembley
Add to that the fact that they haven’t won at Wembley in over 100 years, history seems to be against Chris Wilder‘s side.
Sunderland’s is not much better. They have only won one of their eight attempts, seeing off Wycombe Wanderers in 2022 to cement their return to the second tier.
Another historical stat suggests that it could be a tight game, which is that it represents the third and fourth-place teams meeting in the Championship final for the fifth time in the last six seasons. In those previous four times third has met fourth, there have been two wins apiece.
Both tend to operate with a 4-4-2 system and are very similar in terms of the strength of their squads, the likelihood is that the game will be decided by who comes out on top in some of the individual battles.
Target man Kieffer Moore against defender Dan Ballard will be an interesting battle, given that both are very impressive in the air and aren’t afraid to put themselves about.
If Enzo Le Fee starts centrally, it will be good to see how he fares against Vini Souza, as Sunderland looks a much better side with him in the middle, but he will be up against one of the best midfielders in the league.
Both teams have sold out their allocation, it will be played on a Saturday afternoon, and there is so much at stake. Everything points towards it being a classic game.
