Championship Play-off Final: Crystal Palace to seal dream ticket

27May 2013

England - The Championship

After delivering a Europa League final profit, Christian Crowther is back with some more trends to help punters out for Monday's £90 million match...

Match odds

Unlike many of the continent's other cup-concluding fixtures, the Championship play-off final revels in producing a clear-cut winner. Not one of the last ten finals have required an extra-time period or penalty kicks to see who grabs the dream ticket. So Crystal Palace or Watford to win it then? Form tends to go out the window in these contests, but given Palace have play-off veteran Ian Holloway in charge and will be buoyed by that brilliant semi-final win against in-form Brighton, the Eagles can edge it.

Recommended Bet: Back Crystal Palace to win @ 3.25

Over 2.5 goals

Thankfully, this money-spinning spectacle has upped its game in the entertainment stakes in recent years. Prior to 2010, five of the six previous finals had produced the same 1-0 scoreline to take the winners to the Premier League. However, the last three games have seen an explosion of goals, 14 in all, so there is promise that this one will deliver goals. Further evidence to support this theory arrives by the fact that seven of the last ten meetings between these two have registered over 2.5 goals.

Best Bet: Back Over 2.5 goals @ 2.0

Half with the most goals

Another feature of these recent finals is teams finding the net in the first half. Of the 16 goals in the last five finals, no fewer of 11 of those have been bagged before the half-time oranges were gobbled. Added to his, there has been a first-half goal in all but one of the last 10 clashes between the pair.

Half/Time Full Time

A further quirk in these one-off clashes is for the team who have been leading to go on and complete the job in the second 45. In six of the last seven Wembley showdowns, the side who have got their noses in front have gone on to lift the play-off trophy - this includes the last five straight.