So it has been decided who has made the Championship playoffs and who has not as Leeds, unfortunately, could not complete their 14 goal swing to clinch the final place.
The four teams who will slog it out are Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Fulham and Huddersfield. The Championship playoffs can be cruel but also hugely entertaining as the sides go head to head to compete for a place in the top flight of English football.
Fulham vs. Reading
This first game has all the elements of a classic playoff. Fulham are the in-from team at the moment and are currently on a six-game unbeaten streak; winning five of those games.
They are so fluid in attack it is a joy to watch them flow forward and apply the pressure on the opposition defence. This attacking prowess has culminated in them scoring 19 goals in their last eight games; they last failed to score against Birmingham City back in February.
However, Reading are not going to be pushovers. Even though they have had slip ups at Preston, Nottingham Forest and the 7-1 drubbing against Norwich, they have won 7 out of their last 10 games in the Championship; this has put them 3rd.
Their manager, former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam, deserves a lot of credit for the way he has transformed this side who finished in a lowly 17th place last season into a promotion-chasing outfit.
The previous games this season between the two teams have resulted in a win for either side with Fulham thrashing Reading 5-0 in December. However, The Royals exacted their revenge as they won 1-0 in January thanks to an Ali Al-Habisi penalty save late on in the game.
Prediction
You have to think there will be goals in this game with Fulham in the mood they are in and Reading’s inability to keep clean sheets consistently. Despite consolidating a playoff place for a lot of the season, I feel Reading will struggle to deal with the form of Fulham and their attacking presence. With players such as Tom Cairney, Stefan Johansen and Chris Martin all in double figures this season, they will prove a difficult task for the opposition defence to deal with.
Huddersfield Town vs. Sheffield Wednesday
This is another playoff game that could be a great spectacle especially as the two sides are Yorkshire rivals. Like Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday are in excellent form. Before losing on the weekend, they themselves were on a seven-game unbeaten streak in the Championship.
This kind of form is favoured in the playoffs, and Wednesday will be hoping that they can continue it all the way to Wembley.
Their opposition Huddersfield go into the Championship playoffs with no sort of momentum at all. Having only won 3 of their last ten games, the impression is that they are stuttering and could bottle it in the semi-final.
They even came under scrutiny for making ten changes in their recent game against Birmingham City and have been asked by the EFL to justify their selection; something that manager David Wagner thought was a joke.
If you go off previous games this season, Sheffield Wednesday have the upper hand as they have taken all 6 points off their Yorkshire counterparts both home and away. First, there was the 1-0 win in October, followed by the 2-0 win January.
They will be hoping to get striker Fernando Forestieri fully fit as he has scored twice against Huddersfield this season. However, he has not completed 90 mins since the 7th March due to a knee injury.
Prediction
Due to the poor form that Huddersfield have been experiencing, you have to think that Sheffield Wednesday are the side to make it into the Premier League.
They have the edge over them mentally too, due to the results this season and the fact they made the final in the 2015/16 season. Even Wagner sees his side as the underdogs for this semi-final but football is a funny old game, and it will come down to a question of who wants it more.
