Sunday 24 May 2015 18:29, UK
We look at the key stats as Middlesbrough and Norwich go head to head for a place in the Premier League in Monday’s Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Promotion is worth an estimated £120million to the winner and it promises to be a thrilling encounter between two evenly matched sides who were only separated by a point at the end of the Championship season.
Norwich favourites
Norwich are looking to become the 18th side to win promotion back to the PL at the first attempt after relegation last season.
The Canaries are narrow favourites after an impressive second half of the season under Alex Neil in which they won 15 of 22 Championship league games, taking more points (49) than any other side. In the same period, Boro won 13 games and took 43 points.
The Canaries have also lost fewer games (three) and conceded fewer goals (19) than any other side since Neil’s appointment.
Norwich are also far more prolific scorers than Middlesbrough. They netted 88 goals in the league this season, 20 more than Boro.
No Championship midfielder has scored more goals this campaign than Bradley Johnson, who is level with Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie and Wolves star Bakary Sako on 15.
Norwich have never played at the new Wembley, but their last visit to the old arena ended with a 1-0 win over Sunderland in the 1985 League Cup final.
Middlesbrough advantage?
But while Norwich are the bookmakers’ favourites, Middlesbrough have enjoyed the upper hand over the Canaries in recent seasons.
Aitor Karanka’s side completed a league double over Norwich this season, winning 1-0 at Carrow Raod and claiming a 4-0 victory at the Riverside Stadium.
Boro have won five of their last eight meetings, while Norwich have only won one of the last 12 encounters between the two sides.
Boro have only failed to score in one of the last 11 meetings, while Norwich haven’t found the net in four of the last seven.
Middlesbrough captain Grant Leadbitter has had a hand in more goals this season than any other player at the club (21 – 11 goals, 10 assists).
Middlesbrough also boast the best defence in the Championship, keeping more clean sheets (21) and conceding fewer goals (37) than anyone else.
Boro also have a habit of scoring late goals. Only Derby and Brentford scored more goals in than the 19 scored by Boro in the final 15 minutes of games.
Middlesbrough were promoted in their only previous second tier play-off final appearance over two legs against Chelsea in 1988.
Play-off history
Since the current play-off format was introduced in 1988/89, the team finishing third in the second tier has been promoted most often (nine times), while the team finish fourth has been promoted on the joint-fewest occasions (five times).
However, last season, the team finishing fourth was promoted via the play-offs for the first time since 1997/98.
The side finishing in third place has won promotion via the play-offs in five of the last nine seasons.
Twelve of 28 Championship play-off final winners have survived in top flight the next season – Charlton (1988), Crystal Palace (1990), Blackburn (1993), Leicester (1997), Ipswich (2001), Bolton (2002), Birmingham (2003), West Ham (2006), Hull (2009), Swansea (2012), West Ham (2013) and Crystal Palace (2014). Last season’s winners QPR were relegated this year.
In second tier play-off finals, the team scoring first have won 19 of the 25 games in the current format – 76 per cent.
Watch the Championship play-off final live on Sky Sports 1 HD at 3pm on Monday.
