Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
The Championship play-off showdown takes centre stage on Saturday afternoon, and Gary Neville has issued his prediction for the match.
Sheffield United and Sunderland lock horns at Wembley Stadium with a place in the Premier League at stake and a £240 million prize fund for the winner.
Despite Sheffield United never winning a play-off final, the Blades enter this showpiece fixture as firm favourites after finishing 14 points above their opponents in the table.
But Sunderland’s ‘strongest quality’ is their mentality, according to manager Regis Le Bris, as demonstrated with Dan Ballard’s 122nd-minute winner against Coventry City in the semi-final.
It promises to be a nerve-shredding afternoon for both sets of supporters, with several pundits now issuing their prediction for the match.
Gary Neville issues Sheffield United vs Sunderland play-off final prediction
Although Chris Wilder’s men are expected to return to the Premier League, anything can happen in a game of this magnitude, with one quality moment usually the difference.
EFL expert Ali Maxwell thinks Sunderland will edge victory against Sheffield United on Saturday, returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.
On the other hand, Sam Parkin predicts Sheffield United to beat Sunderland as he feels they have too much quality in reserve for their opponents to handle, and that is a similar verdict offered by Gary Neville.
The former Manchester United defender thinks the Blades will have ‘too much’ for the Black Cats at Wembley and forecasts a 2-1 win for the Yorkshire side.
“We’re probably going to go Sheffield United, even though I’d like to see Sunderland in the Premier League, but I think Sheffield United probably just have got a bit too much,” Neville said on The Overlap.
“Yeah, we’ll go two one Sheffield United.”
Roy Keane’s warning to newly promoted Premier League sides
In recent years, the gulf in class between the Championship and the Premier League has been painfully obvious.
Southampton, Leicester City, and Ipswich Town were all immediately relegated to the second tier after winning promotion the season before, while Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United experienced the same fate in 2023/24.
- READ MORE: Supercomputer predicts the winner of Sheffield United vs Sunderland Championship play-off final
For those sides coming up from the Championship, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to compete financially with the rest of the division.
Leeds United and Burnley have already returned to the Premier League, and Roy Keane fired a warning to the promoted sides in April, urging them to be more difficult to beat to give themselves a greater chance of survival.
“The teams that come up have to make a better effort. I know, of course, it’s going to be hard to stay up. I was there with Sunderland — of course, it’s going to be hard.
“I think a lot of them are overplaying. Southampton, certainly, at the start of the season, were caught out. You can be harder to beat! Be harder to beat!”