After months and months of entertaining end to end action, the 2015/2016 English football season is set to come to a close. Three Premier League sides - Aston Villa, Norwich, and Newcastle - will be featuring in the Championship for the 2016/2017 campaign. Meanwhile, two Championship teams - Burnley and Middlesbrough - have secured their spot in the top flight for next term. This means that one spot remains, and four teams will all be battling it out for a coveted chance to feature in the Premier League.
Two of them, Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton & Hove Albion, will feature this upcoming Friday.
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield come into this match presently sitting in sixth place, but manager Carlos Carvalhal will surely be concerned about the team's form as of late. The Owls have won just one out of their past five fixtures, and if history is any precedent, their current league standing does not bode well for their play-off success chances.
In fact, the last team who were in sixth and successfully navigated their way through the play-offs to gain promotion to the Premier League was Blackpool - and that was six years ago. At home, Sheffield have been pretty solid, with 13 wins, eight draws, and two defeats in regular seasonal play, whilst scoring 42 goals and conceding 17. They will be, of course, counting on this as they welcome Brighton - a team that only narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to English football's top flight.
Should the Owls manage to get through their next three games and secure their place in the Premier League it will be a long time coming. The last time Sheffield featured alongside teams like Chelsea and Arsenal was 16 years ago, but they will have to shake off the effects of a disappointing 2-1 reversal to Wolverhampton this past weekend in the final game of the regular season in order to pick up a home win this Friday.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Normally earning 89 points over the course of a season is enough to win a title. Or, at the very least, second place in the league. Unfortunately for Brighton, it was not sufficient to earn them promotion to the Premier League. Chris Hughton's men were unable to find Middlesbrough last weekend, who managed to pip them to the automatic spot despite drawing their fixture 1-1. As such, the Seagulls will now have to make it through three matches in order to secure their place in next season's edition of the Premier League.
Last season saw Brighton nearly suffer the drop to the third tier, so their rise from hovering around the bottom of the table to near the top has been quite impressive. Although they will still be reeling from the disappointment from last weekend's result, Brighton are viewed by some as the favorites to come out on top on this game.
With nine wins, 12 draws, and two defeats, they boast the second best away record in the Championship. Furthermore, they have not lost a league game since suffering a heavy 4-1 drubbing to Cardiff City on February 20th. And after that brush with relegation, they went on an impressive 21 match unbeaten run (setting a new record) whilst concluding the regular season with 14 consecutive games sans a loss.
Which channel is broadcasting Sheffield Wednesday vs Brighton on TV or Online?
Not able to make it over to Hillsborough Stadium to catch what will be a very exciting promotion play-off clash between these two teams? No problem. LiveSoccerTV.com has put together plenty of options for you to tune in via TV, computer, phone, or tablet.
Here are some choices for fans residing elsewhere in the UK and in the following countries:
- In the USA at 14.45 EST on: fuboTV, beIN SPORTS USA, beIN SPORTS CONNECT U.S.A., beIN SPORTS en Español
- In the UK at 19.45 BST on: BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Go UK, SKY GO Extra, Sky Sports 1/HD UK, NOW TV UK
- In Canada at 14.45 ET on: beIN Sports Canada, beIN SPORTS CONNECT Canada, beIN SPORTS en Español
Live elsewhere? Check out our special Sheffield Wednesday vs Brighton broadcast page for viewing times and options for your current location.
*Note: Live broadcast data is subject to change*
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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