Sunday, May 20th, 2012
The Championship play off final odds say there’s very little to choose between Swansea & Reading for a place in the Premier League and tens of millions of pounds.
For the latest Championship play off final odds click here
Both sides have made it this far at the expense of some of the more fashionable names in the division – and both seem to be trying a positive approach.
For more Championship play-off final odds and specials click here
Swansea City: 13/8
Reading: 9/5
Draw: 23/10
So two teams without a huge Premier League history meet for anything up to £90mn. Swansea start as the most marginal of favourites after their impressive semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest and they have full-back Neil Taylor, a Welsh international, available again after his sending off in the first leg of that contest. The Swans go into this game in good form, having not lost in their last six matches and impressed with a bright and positive style of play, which sees Fabio Borini given excellent support out wide by Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer. Many clubs seem to have had problems in dealing with that formation – and while they like to get forward and play, they also have an excellent record defensively, conceding just twice in their last six matches.
Reading beat Cardiff in the semi-finals with a very solid win in Wales, and they have perhaps been the team of the last three months, moving from mid-table to a top six spot in a run which included 8 straight wins. They have lost 1 in 12 and also match Swansea for defensive organisation, with five clean sheets in 8 games. Their main striking threat is Shane Long, the Irish forward who also has the pace to stretch defences. Manager Brian McDermott and Brendan Rodgers know each other well, McDermott was scouting when Rodgers was struggling in his management spell with the Royals.
It’s tight, but there is a slightly greater fluency to Swansea, so we will be backing Swansea to win 1-0 @ 6/1 with Betfred – use our link and you can claim a free bet of up to £50. In additiom, they’ll refund losing correct score, first/last scorer and scorecast bets if the game is settled out by a shootout.