Champ’ship play-off final guide

As Hull and Sheffield Wednesday prepare to do battle for a place in the Premier League, we bring you the ultimate guide to the Sky Bet Championship play-off final – live on Sky Sports.

Saturday’s Wembley showdown has been billed as the ‘£170m match’ with a spot among England’s elite, as well as unrivalled riches, waiting for the victor at the end of the 90 minutes or more.

Steve Bruce’s Tigers will be looking for an instant return to the Premier League after being relegated at the end of the 2014/15 season while Carlos Carvalhal’s Owls have been absent from the top flight since the 1999/00 campaign. 

So how did they make it to Wembley, who is available for the game and what does Sky Sports Football League expert Ian Holloway have to say? Read on to find out…

How did they get here?

The two sides had differing seasons, with Hull sitting pretty in the automatic places until as late as February before slipping into the play-off spots while Sheffield Wednesday surged into sixth and held off the likes of Cardiff and Ipswich to seal sixth place and a shot at promotion. 

The Tigers faced Derby in their semi-final and stormed into a 3-0 lead during the first leg at the iPro Stadium with goals from Abel Hernandez, Andrew Robertson and a Jason Shackell own goal. 

And though the Rams came storming back into the tie at the KC Stadium, taking a 2-0 half-time lead after Johnny Russell and Robertson’s own goal, they failed to find an elusive third. 

It was a similar story for Wednesday, who dominated Brighton in the first leg thanks to great strikes from Ross Wallace and Kieran Lee but were given a scare early on by their opponents during the return fixture at the Amex Stadium.

The Seagulls controlled the opening period but though Lewis Dunk finally pulled one back to raise hopes of a fightback, Wallace restored Wednesday’s two-goal aggregate cushion nine minutes later and it proved enough.  

Play-off previous 

Hull’s last play-off appearance came in the 2007/08 season where they were promoted to the Premier League following a 1-0 victory over Bristol City at Wembley after Tigers legend Dean Windass scored his now-famous 38th minute volley.

Prior to that, Hull had lost in the 2001/02 Division Three play-off semi-final to Leyton Orient, but will be making their fourth visit to Wembley in the last eight years – their last being the 3-2 FA Cup final defeat against Arsenal in May 2014.

Sheffield Wednesday are yet to play at the new Wembley, but are unbeaten in their last five appearances in the play-offs. Their previous campaign came in the 2004/05 season where they were promoted to the Championship after beating Hartlepool 4-2 in the League One play-off final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. 

Head-to-head

These two could not be separated in the regular season, with both league meetings ending level. The sides drew 1-1 at Hillsborough in October with star strikers Fernando Forestieri and Abel Hernandez on …

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