Championship Play-Off Final 12/1 Bet Builder – Gab Sutton

With Sheffield United and Sunderland evenly-matched over the course of the season, the value looks to be with whoever is priced as the underdogs – in this instance, Regis Le Bris’ side.

True, the Blades can argue that they accumulated 16 more points than their opponents, across the league campaign. That gap, though, is largely down to the Black Cats’ drop in form when February’s late 2-1 loss at Leeds all but ended their automatic promotion hopes, and they were secure in their position in the top six – it was a conscious move from Le Bris thereon to rest and rotate, which may prove to have been of benefit in the final.

The Wearsiders can claim to have had the better of the play in both league meetings with Chris Wilder’s men: they were the more prominent side in November’s 1-0 defeat at Bramall Lane, as well as New Year’s Day’s 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light.

Sheffield United and Sunderland have demonstrated defensive strength to win their semifinal ties.

The Blades absorbed possession against City in both legs but kept them largely at arm’s length – even if on a couple of occasions, it was due to the arm of Michael Cooper.

Cooper has been up there with James Trafford as one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship this season and is likely to play his part in providing a low-scoring encounter.

Sunderland had to dig deep against the Sky Blues and defended their box superbly. Dan Ballard with a commanding display in central defence, while Dan Neil produced a true captain’s performance in midfield.

It’s possible that neither team will want to break out of the compact shape that won their respective Semi-Final ties, thus creating the kind of stalemate that’s common on these occasions: each of the last four Championship Play-Off Finals have seen Under 2.5 goals.

With Patrick Roberts a reported doubt, Le Bris must decide whether to stick with the shape deployed in the semifinal and play Chris Rigg on the right wing or change formation.

A subtle alteration would be shuffling Enzo Le Fee from the left wing into a more favoured central midfield role, shift Eliezer Mayenda across to the right to displace Roberts, then bring Romaine Mundle in on the left.

The advantage of this would be that, if Sheffield United left-back Harrison Burrows looks to attack the flank as he likes to, Mayenda’s pace can be unleashed in behind, and he’ll have the chance to run at opposing left centre-back Jack Robinson.

That impact may limit the impact of United key man Gus Hamer, who may struggle to do the damage he likes because he wouldn’t have the overlapping run creating the space for him.

Mayenda’s counter-attacking threat will be vital for Sunderland, as the Spaniard looks to cap a strong finish to an excellent breakthrough campaign.