1 minPeeeeep peeeeeeeeeep! TheChampionshipplayoff final is under way.
Here come the players. These players.
Sheffield United (4-4-2)Cooper; Choudhury, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows; Brewster, Peck, Vinicius Souza, Hamer; Moore, Campbell.Substitutes:A Davies, McCallum, Holding, O’Hare, Brereton Diaz,T Davies, Cannon, Brooks, Seriki.
Sunderland (4-2-3-1)Patterson; Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin; Neil, Bellingham; Rigg, Le Fee, Mundle; Mayenda.Substitutes:Moore, Browne, Roberts, Isidor, Abdul Samed, Mepham, Hjelde, Watson, Jones.
RefereeChris Kavanagh.
“Busy day of sport today, including the footie obviously,”writes Jeremy Boyce. “I will be trying to ‘Man Who Fell To Earth’ navigate my way through the entertainment on various devices, as I don’t actually possess a wall of TVs.
“Starting with that BIG day out at Wemberleee for two clubs whose history goes back over 120 years, to the late 19th century when that there footie started to get itself properly organised. Six league titles (Sunderland) and four FA Cups (Sheff U) sounds like a decent haul, but they have both been living on thin rations for far too long: Sunderland’s FA Cup in 1973 is the only major trophy for either side in almost 100 years. Which means today’s outcome is the only prize either of them have a realistic chance of winning in possibly the next hundred too.
“It’s amazing that so much can ride on finishing third, but that’s modern footie for you. What on earth would Tom Watson and JB Wostinholm make of it all?”
What’s trigonometry got to do with it?
Louise Taylor answers that question, and four others, in her Pass Notes-style piece onSunderland.
Regis Le Bris speaks to Sky Sports
From the archive
Chris Wilder talks to Sky Sports
Both managers make two changes from the semi-final second leg.Sheffield Unitedbring inRhianBrewster, so impressive in the first leg against Bristol City, andTyreseCampbellin place of Andre Brooks and Tom Cannon.
Chris Rigg, 17, andRomaine Mundlestart forSunderlandinstead of Wilson Isidor and Patrick Roberts.
Sheffield United (4-4-2)Cooper; Choudhury, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows; Brewster, Peck, Vinicius Souza, Hamer; Moore, Campbell.Substitutes:A Davies, McCallum, Holding, O’Hare, Brereton Diaz,T Davies, Cannon, Brooks, Seriki.
Sunderland (4-2-3-1)Patterson; Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin; Neil, Bellingham; Rigg, Le Fee, Mundle; Mayenda.Substitutes:Moore, Browne, Roberts, Isidor, Abdul Samed, Mepham, Hjelde, Watson, Jones.
RefereeChris Kavanagh.
The kick-off time of 3.01pm is a nod to theEvery Minute Matters campaign, which encourages people to leave CPR and potentially save somebody’s life.
Sheffield United have yo-yoed between the Premier League and the Championshipin recent years. It’s been eight years since Sunderland last played in the Premier League, the longest spell outside the top flight in their history.
Scott Murray is such a brilliant writer that he could make traffic entertaining.Here he is on the origin story of the playoffs, and it starts way before 1987.
Hello and welcome to one of the biggest games in the English football calendar: the Championship playoff final at Wembley.Sheffield Unitedand Sunderland will meet to decide which team gets the Premier League Experience next season.
The good news for both teams is that somebody has to win. The two clubs have dreadful playoff records: Sheffield United have never been promoted in nine attempts,Sunderlandonly twice in seven – and one of those came after defeat in the 1990 final to Swindon, who were subsequently demoted because of financial irregularities.
Sheffield United start as favourites, having finished 14 points ahead of Sunderland in the regular season, but that’s rarely worth a damn in this fixture. May the best team win!
Kick off3.01pm.
PS It’s worth over £200m to the winners. And that’s the first and last use of the pound sign today, because we’re sick to the back teeth of glory being quantified.