Coventry v Luton: Oppose Wembley goals with even money tip

• Coventry have lost once in 19

• Luton have W15-D9-L3 since Christmas

• Championship finals are notoriously tight affairs

Coventry exceeding expectations

Coventry exceeded all expectations to reach the Championship play-offs. The Sky Blues were rated as 25/126.00 shots pre-season and are now chasing a third promotion in six seasons, as well as a first return to the Premier League since 2001.

Mark Robins' men timed their run for the top-six superbly with City spending just 17 days in the top-six during the regular season.

Nevertheless, Coventry concluded the campaign with their highest-placed finish since dropping out of the top-flight in 2000/01 before negotiating their semi-final showdowns with Middlesbrough without conceding a goal.

Robins gave his players a long weekend to relax and replenish energy levels with the Sky Blues players back in training on Monday to look ahead to Saturday's showdown.

Second leg hero Gustavo Hamer should be fine to feature despite a knee injury, and there's hope back-up striker Tyler Walker and Kasey Palmer may be fit enough to return to the squad.

Luton look to end 31-year wait

Luton - a non-league side only nine years ago - were last season's surprise package in the Championship.

The Hatters lost out in the play-off semi-finals against Huddersfield, and few fancied the Bedfordshire boys to repeat the feat in 2022/23, yet Town have appeared a much stronger suit and are now dreaming of a top-flight return after a 31-year absence.

The Hatters saw head coach Nathan Jones leave in November, but the club moved swiftly to appoint Rob Edwards as his replacement and Town have continued their steady path of progress.

In fact, Luton picked up the third-most points in the division following Edwards' arrival as only automated promoted pair Burnley and Sheff Utd bettered Town's tally.

Luton are not expected to make major changes to their starting XI for Saturday with Cauley Woodrow unlikely to be fit enough to feature in the squad.

Alfie Doughty should start despite an ongoing niggle with Reece Burke and Daniel Potts on standby; Amari'i Bell can shift to the left-hand side should Edwards be required to shuffle his pack.

Draw a runner between well-matched pair

Coventry are winless in their last nine meetings with Luton across all competitions (W0-D5-L4), a run that began back in October 2017 when the two teams were competing in League Two.

Both of this season's Championship clashes ended all-square; the duo played out a 2-2 draw at Kenilworth Road before settling for a 1-1 stalemate at the CBS Arena.

Coventry 3.259/4 arrive having suffered a solitary reverse in their last 19 matches (W9-D9-L1), a run that started with the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Luton in February.

The Sky Blues overcame Middlesbrough in the semi-finals to maintain an unbeaten EFL play-off record (W3-D2-L0), whilst City have taken top honours in three of their four Wembley appearances.

Luton 2.546/4 are making their maiden EFL play-off final appearance. Five of the last eight sides to finish the regular season in third have failed to be promoted and the Hatters have lost five of their seven previous Wembley outings.

However, Town also concluded the campaign strongly, returning W15-D9-L3 in Championship encounters since Christmas.

A tight tussle awaits Wembley

It's dubbed the most valuable match in world football - promotion to the Premier League will boost the winners' coffers by at least £170m - and the magnitude of the match can often cripple clubs on their big day at Wembley.

Perhaps unsurprisingly with so much at stake, Championship play-off finals are rarely high-scoring affairs.

Since the famous Sunderland 4-4 Charlton play-off final 25 years ago, 16 (67%) Championship curtain-closers have reached the 90 minute mark with fewer than three goals - 54% of those 24 encounters produced no more than a solitary strike, including seven of the most recent 10.

Only five of the past 22 finals have paid out for Both Teams To Score backers, potentially highlighting the value in going against the grain and opposing goals.

With that in mind, we can combine the two major goals markets by supporting Under 2.5 Goals and Both Teams To Score 'No' for a 1.981/1 shout via the Bet Builder on Betfair Sportsbook.