Coventry City In The Play-Offs: Key Stats & Insights

Coventry City had a hectic start to the 2022/23 Championship season, having had a series of home fixtures postponed due to their pitch being deemed as unplayable following the Commonwealth Games. On top of this, the Sky Blues only managed to win one of their opening ten matches.

However, they now enter the play-offs having lost just one of their last 17 matches, winning eight of these fixtures, while earning crucial draws at home to Watford, having come back from 2-0 down, on top of scoring a stoppage-time equaliser away at Blackburn Rovers through their goalkeeper, Ben Wilson.

Prior to their final day draw against Middlesbrough that saw Mark Robins’ side confirm their play-off spot, Coventry had picked up ten points from their previous four matches, seeing them take full advantage of Blackburn and Millwall’s faltering form to finish fifth.

Promotion to the Premier League would be a fairytale story for Coventry, who have not featured in the top flight of English football since 2000/2001. Robins is regarded by the fanbase as a club legend, having lead the Sky Blues to promotion from League Two in 2017/18, while winning League One in 2019/20.

Having finished fifth place in the Championship via Gustavo Hamer’s goal on the last day of the season in a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, Coventry will face the Teeside in a two-legged semi-finals tie in the play-offs, with the aggregate winner advancing to the final at Wembley Stadium. There is no away goals rule in the play-offs.

14th May 12:00 pm Kick-off - Coventry City vs Middlesbrough

17th May 20:00 pm Kick-off - Middlesbrough vs Coventry City

Play-off Final: 27th May - 16:45 pm Kick-off

Coventry have 4/1 odds to be promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs, the highest odds of anyone in the mini-competition. Robins’ men were priced at 15/2 at the start of the season according to Betfair and following three games without a win at the start of April, they had odds of 40/1!

As mentioned above, Coventry will face Middlesbrough in the semi-finals, who they drew 1-1 with on the final day of the 46-match season. When these two sides met in Coventry on 1st October, the Sky Blues came out as 1-0 victors as Viktor Gyokeres bagged the only goal of the game.

When looking at potential finalists, Robins’ men managed 2-2 and 1-1 draws with Luton, while drawing 1-1 away at Sunderland on the opening day of the season thanks to a stunning goal by Gyokeres, before defeating the Black Cats 2-1 at the Coventry Building Society Stadium in late February.

The likes of Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers have been linked with moves for Gyokeres this campaign and it is easy to see why. The 24-year-old Swedish striker has scored 21 times and provided ten assists in 46 matches for Coventry this campaign and has proven to be a real handful for opposing defenders. It is rumoured that the Sky Blues will demand £25m for the ex-Brighton man if they fail to gain promotion.

Coventry usually opts for a 3-5-2 formation, with Matt Godden partnering Gyokeres up-front. The ex-Peterborough United man has 12 goal contributions in 30 appearances.

Gyokeres has made the most league appearances, playing 46 times, however, Coventry’s next highest appearance-makers are left-wing-back Jake Bidwell, with 45, as well as right-wing-back, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, on 41, level with central midfielder Hamer (41), who has scored nine and created ten assists in the Championship this campaign.

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