London rivals, Charlton Athletic meet Leyton Orient in the 2024-25 Sky Bet League One Play-Off Final.
Charlton are seeking a return to the Championship for the first time since their relegation in 2020, whilst Leyton Orient seek a comeback into the second-tier for the first time since 1981-82 season.
Nathan Jones’ Addicks overcame Wycombe with a second-leg winner in their play-off semi-final, whilst Leyton Orient beat Stockport on penalties in their semi-final tie after a 3-3 aggregate draw.
Team News
Charlton have no fresh injury concerns to report but Gassan Ahadme could return after he missed both legs of their play-off semi-final.
Miles Leaburn (quad) remains ruled out.
Leyton Orient also have no fresh injury concerns to report coming into this showpiece match.
Theo Archibald (ACL), Jordan Graham (knee) and Dan Happe (knock) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Charlton meet Leyton Orient at Wembley Stadium, London, on Sunday 25 May at 1:01pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Charlton’s first-ever EFL Play-Off meeting against Leyton Orient.
- Leyton Orient are meeting Charlton on neutral territory at Wembley Stadium for the first time.
- Charlton have won four of their last five league meetings against Leyton Orient (W4, L1).
- Each of Leyton Orient’s last three league victories over Charlton have been by 1-0 results.
- Charlton have won each of their two previous play-off final appearances in 1997-98 and 2018-19 (W2), albeit which both came against Sunderland.
- Leyton Orient have won one of their four previous play-off final appearances (W1, L3), although they did lose to Rotherham on penalties in 2014 after a 2-2 draw following extra time.
Prediction
After scraping past Wycombe in their play-off semi-final, Charlton now are favourites coming into this showpiece but they’re going to have to be more clinical if they want to extend their solid record over Leyton Orient and avoid a first play-off final defeat in their history.
Leyton Orient meanwhile can be proud no matter the result because they were sat in the relegation zone at end of November, yet they managed to find a way to clock and surge up the table to get to this stage even though their defence isn’t the strongest with one clean sheet in their last seven games.
Nevertheless the Os have shown unity and spirit to earn their trip to Wembley with Charlie Kelman in particular proving a handful, but they might need to suffer a bit against a resilient Charlton team although their slightly stronger attack might just be the difference if can cut out their defensive errors.
I however do feel that Charlton should have enough to grind out a draw and take this to penalties, which could go either way but my instinct is that Leyton Orient will snatch this and provide a fresher look to the Championship.
Prediction: Charlton 1-1 Leyton Orient (Leyton Orient to win on penalties)
Result: Charlton 1-0 Leyton Orient
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