Brighton vs Sheffield Wednesday: Championship Play-Off Preview & Prediction

Brighton’s Premier League dream is in the balance, as they look to overturn a 2-0 deficit at home to Sheffield Wednesday, in the second leg of their Championship play-off on Tuesday night at the Amex Stadium.

Goals from Ross Wallace and Kieran Lee on Friday night has given the Owls a real grip on the tie, and they are on the brink of reaching the play-off final at Wembley as they look to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2000.

Having narrowly missed out on automatic promotion on the last day of the season because of goal difference, Albion’s defeat in the first leg at Hillsborough ended their 14-game unbeaten run.

A cause for optimism for the home side however is that they have won 15 of their 23 matches at home this season, scoring 40 goals.

Meanwhile, Wednesday have lost eight games away from home this season, shipping 28 goals in the process, with their last away win coming early April.

Brighton have reached the play-offs in two of the past three seasons, but have failed at the semi-final stage on both occasions.

Team News:

Brighton have a serious injury crisis going into Tuesday’s game with four key players missing through injury.

Connor Goldson, Tomer Hemed, Steve Sidwell and Anthony Knockaert are all expected to miss the return leg at the Amex, with the quartet picking up injuries in the first leg. Meanwhile, Dale Stephens is also absent through suspension, but the home side will have Lewis Dunk available again after suspension.

There are no new injury problems for Sheffield Wednesday, with second half substitute Atdhe Nuhiu pushing for a start after his influencial second half cameo as a substitute.

League Position: Brighton – 3rd (89 pts); Sheffield Wednesday – 6th (74pts)
Previous Meeting: Brighton 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday (March 8th, 2016)
Form: Brighton – WWWDDL; Sheffield Wednesday – DDDWLW
Key Men: Brighton – James Wilson; Sheffield Wednesday – Fernando Forestieri
Shoot Says: Brighton 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday