The Championship play-offs begin tonight with Chris Hughton's Brighton making the trip to Yorkshire to face Sheffield Wednesday.
Brighton agonizingly missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season whilst Wednesday managed to hold off a late surge from Cardiff to cling onto the final play-off spot.
The Owls have certainly had a better experience in the play-offs, winning their only ever campaign in 2005. Meanwhile Brighton have suffered a crueler fate, losing in the Championship play-off finals twice in the past three seasons.
Recent Form
Carlos Carvalhal's side finished the season in disappointing form, only winning one of their of their final six league games.
Wednesday fell to a disappointing defeat to Wolves on the final day of the season but it must be remembered that Carvalhal played a much changed side.
Nevertheless Wednesday will need a return to the form they showed earlier in the season to have a chance of progressing to the final.
Owls fans should find confidence from Wednesday's form at Hillsborough this season.
Carvalhal's side have won over half of their home games this season, scoring an impressive 42 goals in the process to have have the fifth best home form in the league.
Chris Hughton's Brighton suffered the heartbreak of missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season after drawing to Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
It remains to be seen whether last weekend's events may have a lasting impact on the mentality of the Brighton players.
In contrast to tonight's opponents the Seagulls ended the season in fine form and have not lost a league game in 14 matches.
Hughton's side won five of their last seven games as they came tantalizingly close to gaining automatic promotion.
Although Sheffield Wedneday have proven to be a strong force at home, Brighton had the second best away form in the Championship last season.
The Seagulls won nine times and only lost twice on the road during a very successful campaign.
The stats suggest that tonight's game could either be a tight game with few goals or a high scoring affair!
The last three games between Wednesday and Brighton have been 0-0 draws but no Championship player has scored more league goals in 2016 than Sheffield Wednesday's Gary Hooper and Brighton's Tomer Hemed!
Team news
Carvalhal is expected to welcome back Ross Wallace and Atdhe Nuhiu from suspension and injury respectively.
Wednesday are highly likely to name a much changed side from the won that fell to a 2-1 defeat to Wolves at Molineux.
Dale Stephens will miss out for Brighton after being sent off at the Riverside whilst Lewis Dunk continues his suspension after seeing red in the penultimate game of the season against Derby.
It is likely that Steve Sidwell will step into the starting XI to replace Stephens.
What the managers have had to say
In his press conference this week Carvalhal stressed the important role that the home fans could play this evening.
The Portuguese manager said “I said the same thing before we played Cardiff. I asked for our fans to stay completely positive, all the way through the game.
“When a pass is not right, when a shot goes wide, when we lose the play – stay cheering, stay shouting and stay positive.
“This means so much to the players and this is what we saw against Cardiff. The response of the fans was amazing.
“We had one of our best performances of the season and we were awarded the LMA Team Performance of the Week from the whole of the country.
“I am asking for exactly the same against Brighton. Let's do it again. Let's do everything we can together to try and win this game.”
Meanwhile Hughton encouraged his players to embrace the occasion.
“You have to look at the game as two cup finals. One can affect the other.” said the 57-year-old.
He continued “We are talking about three days between the two games, but we play in a league where we are used to playing on a Saturday and a midweek.
“When you get to a play-off I don't think there are any favourites and it is a tough call between all four teams.
“That shows with the two results we have had against them this season. They are a very good side and certainly have goals in them.
“I expect it to be a tight affair. We know their dangers and that we can't treat them lightly.”
