MY ACCOUNT
After a typically frantic and competitive League One season, four sides will compete to join Wigan and Rotherham in the Championship via the play-offs.
A 16-day spell will decide which of MK Dons, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland and Wycombe reach the second tier of English football.
MK Dons vs Wycombe
This semi-final should be an interesting stylistic clash between a pass-orientated Dons side boasting the second-most possession in the league this season and their opponents, who were in the bottom five.
Wycombe have overperformed for their budget and relative size in recent years and have bounced back from Championship relegation in admirable fashion.
Gareth Ainsworth’s side managed to reach the play-offs after a tense run-in, in which they went unbeaten in their last 12 games to see off Plymouth and Oxford.
The Chairboys will look to be a physical nuisance but Liam Manning’s men won both games in the league this year, along with their EFL Trophy encounter, and Wanderers may just fall short.
Sheffield Wednesday vs Sunderland
Heavily fancied to return to the Championship at the first time of asking, the Owls gave themselves slightly too much ground to make up on the automatic promotion sides after an inconsistent start to the season.
This is a talented squad however, with Barry Bannan and Lee Gregory the obvious standouts.
Between them, the pair have 25 goals and 17 assists, and the moments of quality the duo are able to produce may be the difference between them and their semi-final opponents Sunderland.
The Black Cats have reached this stage for the third time in the last four years and will be hoping their previous failures will not come back to haunt them again this time around.
They parted ways with manager Lee Johnson in January and replacement Alex Neil has made them hard to beat, losing just one of his 15 games in charge.
But opposite number Darren Moore’s men have the best home record in the division, so playing the second leg at Hillsborough may also be pivotal to Wednesday returning to Wembley.
League One play-offs predictions
Wycombe and Sunderland did brilliantly to force their way into contention but face rivals who look better placed for the trials of Championship football.
MK Dons and Sheffield Wednesday should have enough quality to set up a meeting in the Wembley showpiece.
