Championship Play-Off Final: Coventry City vs Luton Town Key Stats, Insights & Markets

At 16:45 pm on Saturday, the 2022/23 EFL Championship play-off final kicks off at Wembley Stadium between Coventry City and Luton Town, with this fixture being a potential fairytale headline for both sides.

Coventry are arguably in their best era as a club since their relegation from the Premier League in 2000/2001, having fought off a series of ownership issues under SISU and temporary stadium solutions since shutting the gates at Highfield Road 19 years ago.

The Sky Blues have come all the way back from England’s fourth tier under ex-Manchester United striker, Mark Robins, and have even returned home to the Coventry Building Society Arena. The 53-year-old Mancunian oversaw City’s promotion from League Two back in 2017/18 via the play-offs, as well as their League One title win during the 2019/20 campaign.

Luton Town were also in the financial mire in the mid-noughties, culminating in the Hatters being relegated from the Championship to the National League between 2007 and 2009. It took until the 2013/14 season for Town to return to the Football League from non-league football, before earning back-to-back promotions from League Two and League One between 2017 and 2019.

Coventry City

Coventry had a rough start to the season, managing just two wins from their opening ten matches, while seeing a series of home games cancelled due to the state of their home pitch following the Commonwealth Games. Robins has since admitted that his job could’ve been on the line after City’s start to the season.

The Sky Blues managed to recover form towards the end of 2022, winning seven of their last nine games before the FIFA World Cup break - however, the break arguably came at the wrong time for them, as they won just two of their next 11 matches following the resumption of the league in the aftermath of Qatar 2022.

Miraculously though, they managed to qualify for the play-offs having gone on a run of form at the end of the current campaign that saw them lose just one of their last 17 matches, including a vital draw on the final day of the Championship season away at Middlesbrough to confirm their fifth-place finish.

When push came to shove, Coventry certainly delivered in the play-off semi-finals, beating the initial play-off promotion favourites, Middlesbrough 1-0 on aggregate thanks to a Gustavo Hemer strike at the Riverside Stadium.

Luton Town

Luton managed to overcome Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals via a 3-2 aggregate scoreline, following a 2-0 win over the Black Cats in the second leg at Kenilworth Road thanks to goals by Gabriel Osho and Tom Lockyer.

The Hatters are now just one game away from potentially playing top-flight football for the first time since 1991/92, but, have not had is easy during the regular season, despite their third-place finish.

Ex-Southampton manager Nathan Jones started off as Town’s manager, before exiting for the Saints in mid-November, leaving Luton in ninth place, however, the Hatters made an inspired choice in replacing the Welshman with Rob Edwards, who had recently been sacked by Watford, just months after earning Forest Green to promotion from League Two.

Since joining Luton, Edwards has overseen a total of 31 matches, winning 16, drawing ten and losing five - equating to a win percentage of 52%.

Promotion Odds

Coventry City were priced at 15/2 to be promoted to the Premier League at the start of the season, with these odds even increasing to 40/1 in April. The Sky Blues are now at evens (1/1) to win the play-off final.

Goalscorer Odds

Viktor Gyokeres is the obvious goal threat for the Sky Blues, having scored 22 goals and created 11 assists. The former Brighton striker is priced at 11/2 to score first or last, as well as 9/4 anytime.

Perhaps Hamer could be a good outside shout for Coventry though, as the 25-year-old former PEC Zwolle man has scored ten goals and created ten assists in 44 matches and is priced at 14/1 to be the first goalscorer on Saturday while being at 2/1 to score or assist.

Card Markets

As far as card markets go, 36-year-old centre-back Kyle McFadzean has been shown the most yellow cards of any Coventry player with 12 to his name in 37 league matches, while central midfielder Ben Sheaf has been shown ten yellows in 34 Championship starts.

On top of this, Hamer is known for being an aggressive player, receiving eight yellow cards and two reds across the 2022/23 season as a whole.

Promotion Odds

In terms of odds, Luton comes in as favourites at 8/11 to win the play-off final on Saturday, having suffered the experience of being beaten in last season’s play-off semi-finals and finishing in third place during the regular Championship season this time around under the impressive, Rob Edwards.

Goalscorer Odds

Carlton Morris has been a stand-out performer for the Hatters this season, having scored 20 goals and created eight assists in 50 matches across all competitions - the ex-Barnsley striker is priced at 9/2 to score first or last against Coventry on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Elijah Adebayo is the only other player to have emulated Morris in scoring ten or more goals for Town this season, finding the back of the net ten times in 48 games while being priced at 5/2 to score anytime.

Card Markets

Morris himself is Luton’s most carded player this season alongside Alfie Doughty with 11 yellow cards, the latter is far more prolific when it comes to receiving cards though, having been shown all of his bookings in just 30 appearances compared to Morris’ 46 Championship matches.

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