2022-23 Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final Preview

Luton Town meet 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 dropped out of 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 season.

 

Team News

Luton have no fresh injury concerns to report following their comeback play-off semi-final victory over Sunderland.

Coventry will have Gustavo Hamer available for selection after recovering from a knee injury, despite having managed to feature in their play-off semi-final second leg win at Middlesbrough.

Tyler Walker (muscle) is a doubt and faces a late fitness test.

Kasey Palmer (hamstring) is unlikely to feature despite having resumed first-team training but Fabio Tavares (Achilles) and Callum O’Hare (ACL) remain absent.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Luton meet Coventry at Wembley Stadium in a 4:45pm BST kick-off on Saturday 27 May, live on Sky Sports in the 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 clashes against Luton when playing as the ‘away’ team (W1, D2, L2).
• There have never been three consecutive draws between Luton and Coventry in all competitions.
• Luton have scored first in each of the two regular-season meetings between both teams this season (D2).
• Rob Edwards’ Hatters have never been promoted via the Play-Offs in all league competitions, having reached the Play-Off Final in just two of six previous Play-Off campaigns.
• Coventry have won their only previous Play-Off Final appearances (W1), which saw them promoted from League Two in 2017-18 season after beating Exeter at Wembley.

 

Prediction

Having spent just over 30 years outside of the top-flight, Luton are not going to have a better chance to reach the Premier League for the first time, especially after how they bravely fought back to beat Sunderland in the semi-finals with a clinical second-leg comeback.

Their task therefore has to be to bring that same performance to Wembley because if they apply the same intensity and press with strong defensive game management off the ball, there is no reason why they can’t achieve promotion and banish their play-off hoodoo.

Coventry though were absolutely defensively stubborn and resolute to beat Middlesbrough in their Play-Off semi-final, in which they simply were more clinical in an extremely tightly-fought contest across both legs but they probably will need more quality up front to beat Luton now.

Throw in the prize of promotion and possible nerves of playing at Wembley on top of strong defences and an evenly-matched pair of top forwards, I do feel like this could well go to extra-time but Luton should have the edge if they can maximise their set-piece play to full effect.

Prediction: Luton 2-1 Coventry

Result: Luton 1-1 Coventry (Luton wins 6-5 on penalties and clinches PROMOTION!!)