Luton Town face Coventry City at Wembley Stadium with promotion at stake in the 2022-23 Sky Bet Championship play-off final.
Victory would see Luton reach the Premier League for the first time in their history, having been relegated from the Old First Division just months before the Premier League became England’s top flight.
Coventry, meanwhile, are looking to return to the top flight for the first time since 2000-01.
Team news
Luton have no fresh injury concerns to report following their play-off semi-final win over Sunderland.
Gustavo Hamer will be available for selection at Coventry after recovering from a knee injury despite being able to feature in the second leg of the play-off semi-final at Middlesbrough.
Tyler Walker (muscle) is doubtful and faces a delayed fitness test.
Casey Palmer (hamstring) is unlikely to feature despite resuming first-team training, while Fabio Tavares (Achilles) and Calum O’Hare (ACL) remain sidelined.
When is the start?
Luton take on Coventry at Wembley Stadium, kick-off 4.45pm BST on Saturday 27 May, live on Sky Sports UK.
Stat Attack:
- This is Luton’s first ever post-season play-off meeting against Coventry, although the Hatters are unbeaten in 10 of their last 12 meetings against the Sky Blues (W5, D5, L2).
- Coventry have won just one of their last five away meetings against Luton (W1, D2, L2).
- There have never been three consecutive draws between Luton and Coventry in all competitions.
- Luton scored the first goal in each of the two regular season meetings between the two teams this season (D2).
- Rob Edwards’ Hatters have never been promoted via the play-offs in all league competitions, reaching the play-off final in just two of their previous six play-off campaigns.
- Coventry have won their only previous play-off final appearances (W1) which saw them promoted from League Two after beating Exeter at Wembley in 2017-18.
Prediction
After more than 30 years outside the top flight, Luton are not going to have a better chance of reaching the Premier League for the first time, especially after they battled bravely to beat Sunderland in the semi-finals with a clinical result. second round return.
Therefore, their challenge should be to bring the same performance to Wembley, because if they apply the same intensity and pressure off the ball with strong defensive play management, there is no reason why they can’t achieve promotion and knock out their play-off hoodoos.
While Coventry were absolutely dogged defensively and determined to beat Middlesbrough in the play-off semi-final, where they were simply outsmarted in an extremely tight contest over two legs, they will probably need more quality up front to beat Luton now. .
Throw in the prize of promotion and the possible nerves of playing at Wembley on top of strong defenses and equally top forwards, I think this could go to extra time but Luton should have the advantage if they can maximize it. their keyboard comes into full effect.
Prediction: Luton 2-1 Coventry