Championship Play-Offs: Which Team Will Play in the Premier League Next Season?

Four championship teams are competing for a spot in the Premier League next season. Leeds, WBA, Aston Villa, Derby – one of these sides is going to play in the top English flight in 2019/2020. But, just getting to the elite English league isn’t their only motivation. The winner of the promotion play-offs also gets a huge cash windfall. 

Getting promoted brings a large revenue increase for former Championship clubs, sometimes even as much as 200 million dollars. And that is why you can be certain we’re going to see a hell of a match at the Wembley in the play-off final on May 25. 

But, before that, we’re also in for a lot of excitement in the semis. In the first semi-final, Aston Villa are playing a doubleheader with West Brom; in the other, Derby are taking on Leeds. Let’s now talk a little bit about each of these four potential Premier League candidates. 

Leeds United

Before the season 2018/2019 started, not many people believed Leeds were going to finish at the 3rd place on the Championship table. But, this team had a special ace up their sleeves. That ace was their coach, Marcelo Bielsa. 

In the soccer universe, this manager is famous as one of the best strategists on the planet. But, for the general public, he’s best known as the mentor of some prominent Premier League coaches, including Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino. 

Known as a manager who literally stays on the training ground overnight, Bielsa has used all sorts of elaborate tactics to help his team. Some of those tactics didn’t get too good a response once they were revealed. For instance, it was discovered that Bielsa’s people spied on opponents’ training sessions, which is something that’s frowned upon in English soccer, even though there’s nothing illegal about it.

Of course, the success of Leeds didn’t happen only because of their coach’s efforts; the players deserve their share of praise as well. And although Leeds is far from being the most expensive squad in the league, they do have a couple of extremely talented players, including their top scorer Kemar Roofe and their most experienced player, Pablo Hernandez.

West Bromwich Albion

They played in the Premier League last season and are determined to get back right away. The main reason why their fans have every right to be optimistic about promotion is that a number of players that played for WBA in the Premier League era are still in the team. Some of those include Hal Robson-Kanu, Jay Rodriguez, and Gareth Barry among others.

Apart from keeping their key men in the squad, WBA also did some shopping during the transfer windows. Probably the biggest signing they made was Dwight Gayle, who came in from Newcastle. Jacob Murphy followed exactly the same path. 

Speaking of WBA’s manpower, prominent sites that deal with player market values rank this team as the second-most expensive squad in the league. And that’s a higher squad value than the one of Cardiff, a team that played in the Premier League this season. Furthermore, the squad of WBA is estimated to be almost two times the value of Leeds. 

Aston Villa

WBA have the most expensive squad in the Championship, but the player with the highest market value in this league is Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish. And he’s played a play-off final last season when the Villans lost to Fulham. They now have another chance to get promoted, which they are determined to take. Same as WBA, they also have plenty of famous players in the team, although, to be fair, many of them are already in their thirties. 

Having an experienced squad could come as a problem when fitness is concerned. Still, that’s a bridge they’ll have to cross if they get to the Premier League. At this point, having such players in the team is definitely a big advantage.

Despite the fact that nearly a half of their first-team squad is made of the players who are over 30, Aston Villa’s best players are in their early twenties. Arguably their best player, Jack Grealish is only 23, while their top scorer, Tammy Abraham is even younger. He turned 21 last autumn.

Derby County

The team managed by Chelsea legend Frank Lampard finished the season at the 6th place, which is the last one that leads to the play-offs. And they secured the play-off spot in the final round of the season by beating West Brom 3:1. If they had failed to do so, Middleborough would’ve taken their spot.

They did get to the play-off after a heart-stopping game in the last round, but no one can argue they don’t belong here. Derby County have some excellent players in their squad. In fact, it seems that they have at least one great player in every position on the pitch.

And the best thing is that they finished the season in style. They have been in a really amazing form for a while now and are hoping to keep it going till the end of the play-offs. What’s got to worry them is that they haven’t been too impressive on the road. Actually, they’re the worst of all four teams from the play-offs when away stats are concerned. And the biggest problem is that the play-off final is taking place in London. 

So, Which of These Will Get to the Premier League?

According to top-rated soccer betting sites, the play-offs are going to be super-exciting because all of these four teams are of similar quality. Still, sportsbooks do give advantage to Aston Villa and Leeds, the sides that are considered equal favorites for promotion. As of this moment, West Brom is the 3rd favorite, while the team with the smallest chance of getting promoted is Derby County.

Still, the experience has taught us that anything can happen in these kinds of games. Last year, for instance, Fulham beat the odds and got themselves a place in the top English flight, leaving behind Aston Villa, Derby County, and Middlesbrough.