The race to the Premier League is on as Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday are set battle it out for a place in the Promised Land.
Last season, Hull City claimed the final promotion space as they overcame Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 to seal safe passage from the Championship.
Not only is a place in the top flight up for grabs for one of the four contenders, but a potential £170m windfall is at stake for the club that can hold their nerve.
But who will come out on top in ‘the Richest Game in Football’?
READING
Jaap Stam's side spent 30 weeks in the top five - never once breaking into the automatic promotion places. With just one win from their opening four games, the Royals hovered above the relegation zone before a late Yann Kermorgant goal at Cardiff kick-started their campaign. Form on the road has been problematic for Reading with eleven of their 13 defeats coming away from the Madejski Stadium. Stam's side have also conceded three times more goals on their travels than they have at home, with heavy defeats at Brentford (4-1), Fulham (5-0) and Norwich City (7-1) evidence of their defensive frailties.
However, at home Reading are a different machine. Fortress Madejski has seen the Royals claim 53 of their 85 points this season and they beat all three play-off hopefuls by a solitary goal on home soil. No player in the Championship play-offs has scored more league goals than Kermorgant, who has unfinished business at this stage. While playing for Leicester City against Cardiff City, the Frenchman famously tried to chip his penalty in the semi-final shoot out, only for his tame effort to be saved by David Marshall.
The Royals are aiming to secure a place in the Premier League for the first time since 2013, where they won just one of their opening 19 games. Reading lost 22 games that campaign and twice lost seven matches in a row. This is the fourth time the Berkshire outfit have been in the second tier play-offs and have failed at the previous three attempts in 2003, 2009 and 2011.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
After beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at the Molineux back in November, the Owls have been in and around the top six - slipping out on just two occasions. A run of four games without a win at the end of March and beginning of April threatened to derail the Yorkshire outfit's promotion bid, but six straight wins followed that dip in form to cement a place in the play-offs. Wednesday will be confident of reaching Wembley having beaten Huddersfield home and away in the league this season, but we all know that the play-offs aren't that straight forward.
Goals have been relatively well-shared by the Owls, with only Fernando Forestieri and Steven Fletcher hitting double figures in the league. In the top half of the table, only Huddersfield and Derby County scored less than Wednesday's 60 goals this campaign, which is something Head Coach Carlos Carvalhal will be hoping to address heading into the end of season finale. The Hillsborough outfit have only scored three or more goals on three occasions in the league, and may need to dig deep in their arsenal if they are to secure promotion to the Premier League.
Wednesday haven't been in the top flight since 2000 and have twice slipped into the third tier before climbing up the pyramid again. The Owls fell at this hurdle last season, losing 1-0 to Hull in the final after recording a sixth place finish.
PLAY-OFFS AT 30
Championship: Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday all set to battle it out
Article posted: 12 May 2017
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PLAY-OFFS AT 30
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Gareth McClearly
Reading
Yann Kermorgant
Reading
Jaap Stam
Reading manager
Carlos Carvalhal
Sheffield Wednesday manager
Steven Fletcher
Sheffield Wednesday
Fernando Forestieri
Sheffield Wednesday
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
The Terriers made a blistering start to the campaign and were top of the Championship table after eleven games before a 1-0 Yorkshire derby defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday. But David Wagner's side have been there or thereabouts all season and, despite dropping to a season-low position of eighth after a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers at the start of December, have occupied a top six spot for virtually the duration of the campaign.
However, form is generally crucial going into the play-offs and Huddersfield have more or less stumbled across the finishing line with just three wins in their last ten league games and six defeats in the process - including a 4-1 loss at home to Fulham. And of the six games against fellow play-off hopefuls, the Terriers only won once (1-0 at home to Reading) and lost the other five. Wagner's side are the lowest scorers in the top six and finished the campaign with a negative goal difference.
Huddersfield haven't been in the top flight since 1972 and were in the fourth tier as recent as 2004. This is the Terriers' first appearance in the Championship play-offs and Wagner will be hoping that Elias Kachunga and Nahki Wells can help fire them to the Premier League.
David Wagner
Huddersfield manager
Nahki Wells
Huddersfield
Elias Kachunga
Huddersfield
FULHAM
Eleven wins from their last 17 games saw the Cottagers clinch sixth place in the last few weeks of the campaign from under the noses of Leeds United. The goals have been flowing for Fulham, who are the joint top scorers in the league along with champions Newcastle. Tom Cairney, Stefan Johansen and Chris Martin have all netted double figures for Slavisa Jokanovic's side, who claimed victories at Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday at the end of the season.
Jokanovic's team are the surprise package in the play-offs this time around, and their blistering form could be vital in their bid to reach the Premier League for the first time since 2014. The Cottagers endured a turbulent campaign with three different managers as they finished 19th - four years after losing in the Europa League final to Atletico Madrid. Fulham were threatened by relegation from the Championship last season before finishing 20th, eleven points above the drop zone.
Youngster Ryan Sessegnon has caught the eye of numerous Premier League clubs with a string of impressive performances. It appears as though, regardless of the outcome of the play-offs, the 16-year-old will be playing top flight football next season.
Slavisa Jokanovic
Fulham manager
Tom Cairney
Fulham
Ryan Sessegnon
Fulham