Watch every Sky Bet EFL play-off semi-final and final live on Sky Sports Football.
Sunday 19 May 2019 22:21, UK
The Sky Bet EFL play-offs are here! But who are the favourites? Who is in form? And how can you watch?
You can find out right here...
West Brom 1-0 Aston Villa (Villa win 4-3 on penalties)
Leeds vs Derby, Wednesday 15, 7.45pm - Live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm
Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds may have finished the season in miserable form - sitting 16th in the Championship form table after Sunday's shock 3-2 defeat at the hands of relegated Ipswich - but if history is anything to go by, they may earn a reprieve come the end of the play-offs.
Fulham were promoted last season after finishing third, while the same can be said for Norwich (2015), West Ham (2012) and Swansea (2011). Meanwhile, the team to finish in fourth place has won the second tier play-offs in two of the last five seasons (QPR in 2013/14 and Hull City in 2015/16), as many as in the previous 22 campaigns combined (Leicester City in 1993/94 and Charlton in 1997/98).
The team to finish sixth in the Championship has won promotion via the play-offs in just one of the last 13 seasons - Blackpool in 2009/10.
Despite losing their final league game last season, Fulham were promoted after suffering just a solitary league defeat in the last seven fixtures of the season, of which they won five. Hull also lost just once across the same period on their way to promotion in 2015/16, while another saving grace for Leeds may be the fact Huddersfield started their play-off campaign in 2016/17 having won just two of their last seven.
Turning attention to this season's play-offs, which get underway on Thursday, it's hard to disregard Aston Villa, based largely on their club-record 10-game winning streak spanning early March to late April. Frank Lampard's Derby held their nerve to take the final top-six berth, after closing the season with a six-game unbeaten run, while West Brom and Leeds - two early favourites for automatic promotion, lost three and four of their final seven games, respectively.
To win promotion to the Premier League: Leeds (7/4 with Sky Bet), Aston Villa (2/1), West Brom (100/30), Derby (9/2)
Portsmouth vs Sunderland, Thursday 16, 7.45pm - Live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm
Charlton vs Doncaster, Friday 17, 7.45pm - Live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm
Look back over the last 10 seasons and there's something of a pattern that has emerged in League One; on three occasions, the team who finished as runners-up the season before has triumphed immediately the season after. It's been the case twice for Millwall (2010, 2017) and also for Huddersfield (2012), while Preston won the play-off final in 2015 having reached the semi-finals the year before.
That could bode well for Lee Bowyer's Charlton. Last season, the Addicks were defeated 2-0 on aggregate by eventual runners-up Shrewsbury in the semi-finals, but, having finished third, ahead of both Portsmouth and Sunderland this term, they are buoyed by a run of seven wins from their final eight games.
In contrast to the Championship, each of the last three teams to win promotion via the play-offs - Rotherham, Millwall and Barnsley - have won their final game of the regular season. Interestingly, just two teams during that time have progressed to the play-offs unbeaten in their final seven fixtures, yet both failed to reach the Wembley showpiece: Scunthorpe in 2017/18 (four wins, three draws) and Bradford in 2015/16 (six wins, one draw).
On that basis, only Charlton and Doncaster are able to continue the pattern this season; both Sunderland and Portsmouth lost last Saturday, with the form of the former a particular worry, seeing as no side in the last three seasons has so much as reached the final without a win in their final three regular season fixtures.
To win promotion to the Championship: Charlton (9/4 with Sky Bet), Sunderland (9/4), Portsmouth (5/2), Doncaster (3/1)
Mansfield 0-0 Newport (Newport win 5-3 on penalties)
In the fourth tier, there could be good news for Newport, who secured the final play-off position on the final day of the season, after securing a 1-1 draw away at Morecambe. In 2016, AFC Wimbledon were promoted after finishing seventh, while Blackpool repeated the feat the following year. In fact, the team finishing seventh has been promoted in a remarkable five of the last 10 seasons.
Additionally, though, there could be further disappointment for Mansfield, who lost 1-0 to MK Dons in a clash billed as 'winner takes all'. Paul Tisdale's men were automatically promoted at Stadium:MK, while the Stags had to settle for fourth - a position that has only been occupied by the play-off winners twice in the previous 10 seasons: Bury (2009), Fleetwood (2014).
The team finishing fourth has only won promotion to League One in one of the last 10 seasons (Fleetwood 2013/14), while the team finishing sixth has won promotion to League One just twice in the last 11 seasons, though Coventry did so last season.
In the last two seasons, Blackpool and Coventry were promoted to League One, despite having entered the play-offs in the worst form of the four clubs to have reached the end-of-season lottery. Each side suffered three defeats in their last seven fixtures - the same number as Exeter, Luton and Carlisle combined in 2016/17; last season, Exeter, Lincoln and Notts County lost four combined.
In 2018/19, Mansfield, arguably, begin in the worst form, having lost their final three games of the season, while Tranmere won on just a single occasion in the final seven games. And even though their play-off berth was only confirmed on the final day of the season, just Newport enter on an unbeaten streak, having not suffered defeat in 10 games, stretching all the way back to 15 March.
To win promotion to League One: Mansfield (6/4 with Sky Bet), Forest Green (11/4), Tranmere (11/4), Newport (9/2)
League Two play-off final - Newport vs Tranmere
League One play-off final
Championship play-off final
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