Eng. Championship
2013-05-27 - Crystal Palace vs Watford
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship Play Off Final
Monday 27 May 2013 - Kick Off 3pm
This game is live on TV
Crystal Palace
After guiding Blackpool to the Premier League through the Play Offs and falling just short last season, Ian Holloway has plenty of experience in this final stage of the Championship season. It was on show again as he helped his Crystal Palace side put in the perfect away performance to beat Brighton 0-2 at the Amex Stadium and ensure a 2-0 aggregate win to earn their place at Wembley for the Play Off Final.
Crystal Palace hadn't shown a lot of form to end the season and that saw them drop off the pace for an automatic promotion berth as they finished 5th. They struggled for the main part away from Selhurst Park as they finished with 10 defeats from their 24 away games, while Palace were in the bottom half of the table when it came to current form.
While Palace have now won 2 of their last 3 games, those 2 wins remain the only ones they have in their last 12. On the other hand, if you're a glass half full kind of Crystal Palace fan, you would state the side are going into this Final off the back of a 6 game unbeaten run.
Glenn Murray is the big loss for Ian Holloway as he is out until some time next season. That could mean more pressure on the likes of Wilfried Zaha in his final game for Crystal Palace before moving to Manchester United.
Watford
These teams could consider themselves as a Greater London derby, although Watford are based in north of the City and Crystal Palace are based south of the City. Instead of that traditional rivalry, Watford may be using comments Ian Holloway made about their side earlier this season as motivation for success in the Play Off Final. Gianfranco Zola's team were criticised by Holloway for the amount of loan players they were allowed to bring in from Udinese, the club that shares the same owners, and I expect those questions to be brought up by the media again.
It was a disappointing end to the regular season for Watford as they failed to take advantage of Hull City's slip up to win automatic promotion. A 1-2 home loss to Leeds United consigned them to the Play Offs when a win would have seen Watford promoted, but then they would have missed the absolute stunning drama from the Play Off Semi Final against Leicester City.
Leicester actually had a penalty in the 6th minute of injury time and a goal would have almost certainly seen them playing here at Wembley instead. However, the penalty was missed and the game was essentially about to enter extra time when Watford took the ball up the other end and scored to go through 3-2 on aggregate. It was a stunning turn of events and Watford will be hoping that is a sign that they will be promoted this season.
Watford have suffered some inconsistent results in the final few games of the season and that is highlighted by the fact that they have won 3 and lost 4 of their last 7 games. They have also lost 4 of their last 6 away from Vicarage Road.
Prediction
Crystal Palace and Watford played two entertaining games earlier this season- Watford scored twice late to beat Palace 2-3 at Selhurst Park on the opening day, while Palace came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in the game at Vicarage Road.
Watford have won just 1 of the last 8 games between these teams, while Palace have won 5 of those games.
Prediction
Crystal Palace's Semi Final with Brighton may have been low-scoring, but anyone who saw the two games will notice there were big chances for both sides in both games. I don't think Watford will be as wasteful as Brighton were, although they remain vulnerable at the back too.
Goals were the order of the day when they met earlier this season and I can see gaps being exploited on the big Wembley field and so the 2.05 we see at least 3 goals looks worth backing.
The Pick :
Crystal Palace 1-2 Watford
