There is only one coveted place in next season’s Premier League up for grabs and four teams are preparing to try and claim it in the upcoming Championship play-offs. Adrian Kajumba takes a look at the teams hoping to reach the Wembley final on Sunday 26 May and seal their return to the Premier League.
Championship playoff semi-finals
Sunday, May 12
12:00 BST Norwich v Leeds
14:15 BST West Brom v Southampton
Thursday, May 16
20:00 BST Leeds v Norwich
Friday, May 17
20:00 BST Southampton v West Brom
Leeds United
Leeds had hoped that, like Championship title winners Leicester City, relegation from the Premier League in 2023 would be followed by automatic promotion from the second tier a year later.
But a run of just two wins in their last eight games has seen Leeds fall from top spot in mid-March to third.
Leeds were a Premier League club for each of the competition’s first 12 seasons, securing seven top-five finishes along the way.
After relegation in 2003/04, Leeds spent 16 years away, including a spell in League One, before finding their way back to the top flight in 2020, where they remained for a further three seasons.
Now, Leeds must quickly regain their form to secure a return to the Premier League via the play-offs.
They may consider themselves unlucky not to have already sealed promotion after becoming the first team since Sunderland in 1998 to score 90+ points and not get automatic promotion.
Can Leeds end their play-off curse?
Leeds may also not be exactly thrilled that their fate will be decided in the play-offs, having failed to win any of their previous five attempts.
A more encouraging statistic is that on nine occasions out of 19 – almost 50 per cent – since the Championship was renamed in 2004, the team that finished third ended up gaining promotion via the play-offs.
For Leeds boss Daniel Farke, their semi-final against Norwich City will be of personal significance – he has been in charge of the Canaries for more than four years, guiding them to the Championship title twice.
The ones you should watch
Winger Crysencio Summerville, the division’s third-highest scorer with 19 goals, former Chelsea defender Ethan Amapdu, who has started every Championship game, and exciting young midfielder Archie Gray will be key to Farke’s hopes of a third promotion.
So will forward Patrick Bamford, if he recovers from a knee injury.
Ethan Abadu has been an ever-present for Leeds this season
Norwich City
There is no disappointment at what could have been during the regular season at Norwich, only an excitement for the opportunity that comes after reaching the play-offs.
Their pre-season target was a top-six finish, but in November it looked like that was well beyond them when four consecutive defeats saw the Canaries drop to 17th, their lowest position of the season.
A much-improved second half of the campaign led to a steady rise in the play-off picture, but a final-day defeat at Birmingham City saw Norwich drop a place to finish the 2023/24 campaign in sixth.
Manager David Wagner has described securing a place in the play-offs as “an absolutely incredible achievement” and while he believes Norwich will be underdogs against Leeds, they have experience to draw upon.
The key to Wagner’s playoff experience?
In 2017, Wagner guided Huddersfield Town to the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history through the play-offs with a penalty shoot-out win against Reading.
Norwich have previous success to draw on too, having won the 2015 final against Middlesbrough.
![Russell Martin, Norwich City](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/6c4c8eeb-7c1a-4427-b1ea-cbfb79faf16c/Russell-Martin-Norwich-City.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
![Russell Martin, Norwich City](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/6c4c8eeb-7c1a-4427-b1ea-cbfb79faf16c/Russell-Martin-Norwich-City.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
Norwich captain Russell Martin, now manager of Southampton, leads the celebrations after securing promotion in 2015 via the play-offs.
Their first attempt, however, ended in a penalty shootout defeat in 2002 against Birmingham.
Norwich have now been out of the Premier League for two seasons and a return would give them the chance to break an unwanted streak – their three most recent stays have all lasted just one season.
Once upon a time, however, they were title contenders, finishing third in the inaugural 1992/93 Premier League season.
In total Norwich have spent 10 seasons in the Premier League in six separate spells.
The ones you should watch
They will continue to look to midfielder and player of the season Kenny McLean, while 16-goal striker Josh Sargent and midfielder Gabriel Sarah (13 goals and 12 assists) will be their main attacking threats against Leeds.
2023/24 league matches
October 21: Norwich 2-3 Leeds
January 24: Leeds 1-0 Norwich
Southampton
Southampton’s aim was to finish in the top two after being relegated from the Premier League just a year ago.
But a playoff spot wouldn’t be the biggest surprise given how their season has gone.
Southampton spent most of the 2023/24 campaign on the outside looking in for the automatic places and eventually finished fourth.
The Saints had made a promising start before suffering a four-game losing streak in September and causing problems with new manager Russell Martin’s possession-passing philosophy.
However, this proved to be a minor problem and they went on to go on a club-record 25-match unbeaten run, including 22 league matches, to cement their place in the promotion mix.
![Flynn Downs, Southampton](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/64e8bead-edbb-4d40-b8ef-3c517a0f9623/Flynn-Downes-Southampton.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
![Flynn Downs, Southampton](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/64e8bead-edbb-4d40-b8ef-3c517a0f9623/Flynn-Downes-Southampton.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
Goalscorer Flynn Downes is mobbed by team-mates as Southampton snap a record 24-game league unbeaten run at Swansea City.
Three defeats in a week in April – including a 5-0 thrashing by Leicester City in the second of those matches – ended their automatic hopes.
Realistically though, Martin and his players had mentally prepared themselves for the play-offs before Leicester’s defeat.
This will be Southampton’s second play-off campaign since their 2007 semi-final defeat by Derby County – and Martin’s first as manager.
The ones you should watch
Southampton certainly have the firepower to trouble any of their play-off opponents, with Adam Armstrong’s 21 goals backed up by Che Adams, who has netted 16 times.
In a strong squad, midfielder Flynn Downes plus defenders Kyle Walker-Peters and Manchester City loanee Taylor Harwood-Bellis have also stood out this season.
Victory in the play-offs would secure a third spell in the Premier League for Southampton.
Their previous stays of 13 and 11 seasons came either side of a seven-year spell in the Football League, which included two years in League One.
A potentially positive omen for them is that the three teams who previously beat West Brom in the second tier play-offs (Bolton in 2001, Aston Villa in 2019 and Derby in 2007) won promotion.
West Bromwich Albion
Since October, West Brom have been largely in fifth place, so it was fitting that the Baggies finally ended the season there.
A late swing of one win from seven games brought a nervy finish to a campaign for Carlos Corberan’s side during which their play-off spot, which had looked assured for so long, was in jeopardy.
But a final-day win over Preston, combined with Norwich’s defeat at Birmingham, allowed West Brom to leapfrog the Canaries and move up a place from sixth.
![Carlos Corberan, WBA](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/68f92320-e5e0-441c-9963-b908d05ddaaf/Carlos-Coberan-WBA.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
![Carlos Corberan, WBA](https://resources.premierleague.com/photos/2024/05/08/68f92320-e5e0-441c-9963-b908d05ddaaf/Carlos-Coberan-WBA.jpg?width=1400&height=800)
Carlos Corberan guided West Brom from the relegation zone to the play-offs
It made it the first assignment achieved for Corberan – and for West Brom – as the head coach turned their fortunes around, leading them from second bottom to the play-offs after taking charge last October.
Both Corberan and the Baggies, who are aiming to end their three-year absence from the Premier League, will be hoping for something better after previous play-off disappointments.
In 2022, the Spaniard – who was also previously part of Marcelo Bielsa’s backroom team at Leeds – guided Huddersfield to the play-off final before losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.
Fourth time lucky?
West Brom, meanwhile, will be hoping to make it fourth time lucky after losing twice in the semi-finals and one in the 2007 final to Derby.
They will always have a place in Premier League folklore after becoming the first team to stay top after being bottom at Christmas 2005.
Their best ever finish of eighth in 2013 under Steve Clarke was another highlight of their 13 seasons in the Premier League, spread over five spells.
West Brom’s latest bid to return to the top flight will rely heavily on Corberan’s tactics and versatility.
The ones you should watch
Wingers Grady Diangana and Mikey Johnston, on loan from Celtic, will be West Brom’s most likely suppliers of attacking inspiration on the pitch.
Diangana’s 15 goal contributions (seven goals, eight assists) is West Brom’s highest.
Meanwhile, Johnston’s seven strikes in 2024 make him West Brom’s top scorer since arriving from Scotland in the January transfer window.
2023/24 league matches
November 11: Southampton 2-1 West Brom
February 16: West Brom 0-2 Southampton