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Coventry and Luton set for close-fought Championship play-off final

Coventry City vs Luton Town - 27/05/2023

Coventry and Luton set for close-fought Championship play-off final
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Coventry City and Luton Town meet in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with a place in the Premier League up for grabs.

Third-placed Luton finished 10 points clear of fifth-placed Coventry in the Championship table, but both sides are now just one win away from securing top-flight football.

Can Coventry return to the Premier League for the first time since 2000-01? Or will Luton make it back to the top tier of English football for the first time since 1991-92?

Coventry booked their place in the Championship play-off final with a 1-0 aggregate victory over Middlesbrough, courtesy of an away goal from Gustavo Hamer.

As a result, the Sky Blues head into Saturday’s showpiece on a nine-game unbeaten streak, having recorded four wins and five draws since their last loss.

When you look at the bigger picture, Coventry have suffered a solitary defeat in their previous 19 outings, collecting nine wins and nine draws along the way.

Given that each of Coventry’s last four games have produced under 2.5 goals, we are likely to see a low-scoring encounter this weekend.

As for Luton, they claimed a 3-2 aggregate win over Sunderland to reach the final, coming from 2-1 down in the first leg to win the second leg 2-0.

The Hatters avoided defeat in each of their final 14 regular-season matches, securing eight wins and six draws to cement their place in the top six.

Consequently, Rob Edwards’ men have lost only one of their last 16 games, with two defeats coming in their previous 22 encounters in the league.

Given that only champions Burnley conceded fewer goals than Luton during the regular season, the Hatters will back themselves to limit Coventry’s chances at Wembley.

Head-to-head: Coventry and Luton have already played out a couple of draws this term, drawing 2-2 at Luton before producing a 1-1 stalemate at Coventry back in February.

That means the Sky Blues have failed to win any of their previous nine meetings with the Hatters in all competitions, with five draws coming in that time.

Team news: Coventry City will be without injured trio Callum O’Hare (ACL), Fabio Tavares (Achilles) and Kasey Palmer (hamstring) for Saturday’s showpiece.

By contrast, Luton Town have reported no injury problems ahead of the final, meaning Rob Edwards has a full-strength squad at his disposal.

When you consider what’s at stake for these two sides, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coventry and Luton served up a tense and cagey affair at Wembley.

For that reason, Forebet predicts that Coventry and Luton will play out a low-scoring draw inside 90 minutes, with extra-time and/or penalties required to determine the winner.

Home team
Away team
Probability %
1X2
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
CH
234730
X
1 - 1
2.13
21°
3.10
3.10 3.10 2.45 no no no
Pen.
FT
5 - 6
1 - 1(0 - 1)
-
- - -
Championship Regular Season
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Leicester City 97 45 31 4 10 50
2
Ipswich Town 93 45 27 12 6 33
3
Leeds United 90 45 27 9 9 39
4
Southampton 84 45 25 9 11 23
5
Norwich City 73 45 21 10 14 16
6
West Bromwich 72 45 20 12 13 20
7
Hull City 70 45 19 13 13 9
8
Middlesbrough 66 45 19 9 17 7
9
Coventry City 64 45 17 13 15 12
10
Preston North End 63 45 18 9 18 -8
11
Bristol City 62 45 17 11 17 6
12
Cardiff City 62 45 19 5 21 -14
13
Swansea City 57 45 15 12 18 -5
14
Watford 56 45 13 17 15 2
15
Sunderland 56 45 16 8 21 0
16
Millwall 56 45 15 11 19 -11
17
QPR 53 45 14 11 20 -12
18
Stoke City 53 45 14 11 20 -15
19
Blackburn Rovers 50 45 13 11 21 -16
20
Sheffield Wednesday 50 45 14 8 23 -26
21
Plymouth Argyle 48 45 12 12 21 -12
22
Birmingham City 47 45 12 11 22 -16
23
Huddersfield 45 45 9 18 18 -27
24
Rotherham 24 45 4 12 29 -55

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