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Coca Cola Championship play-off final Venue: Wembley Stadium Date: Saturday, 22 May Kick-off: 1500 BSTCoverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC local radio & highlights on The Football League Show. Live on Sky Sports 1
TEAM NEWS
Blackpool have no new injury concerns ahead of the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Tangerines boss Ian Holloway is expected to name an unchanged line-up for the sixth consecutive match.
Cardiff City centre-back Anthony Gerrard, who has missed the last three matches with a calf injury, has been passed fit for the big game.
Top scorer Peter Whittingham is also likely to get the all-clear to play following a groin strain.
MATCH PREVIEW
Billed as the richest match in club football, an estimated £90m is at stake in the winner-takes-all Championship play-off final, which will propel one of these sides into the big time.
We`re happy to be the underdogs. We have been all season, and maybe that brings the best out in us
For Blackpool, who started the season among the favourites for relegation and have not been in the top flight since 1971, promotion would be an amazing achievement. It would also see them go from the bottom division to the Premier League in the space of nine years.
And it would be a crowning moment for boss Ian Holloway, who tasted play-off agony at Cardiff’s hands while QPR boss in 2003.
City’s extra-time victory at the Millennium Stadium that day took them into the second tier for the first time in 18 years. Now they are looking to go a step further and compete in the top division for the first time since 1962.
Manager Dave Jones is hoping to repeat his 2003 play-off triumph, when he took Wolves up. His position at Cardiff was in doubt after their capitulation resulted in them being nudged out of the top six on the final day of last season. One year on, he could be about to seal his place in the club’s folklore.
Two years ago, Holloway presided over relegation with Leicester and has had to rebuild his reputation since Blackpool appointed him last summer. His pre-season claim that the Seasiders could seriously challenge for promotion seemed to many to be over-ambitious, but he has been proved right.
While Blackpool have defied the odds to get this far, Cardiff have defied serious off-the-field problems. Their financial future has been uncertain all season, but they now have a chance to hit the jackpot and emphatically wipe out their debts.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
• Blackpool have won 31 and Cardiff 14 of the 64 previous matches between these clubs.
• Three of the last four meetings have been 1-1 draws, including both this season’s fixtures.
• Cardiff are unbeaten in seven matches against Blackpool, winning four and drawing three since losing to them in October 2002.
Blackpool
• Blackpool have won 11, drawn three and lost two of the club’s 16 previous matches in the play-offs.
• They are hoping to become the third club to win promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs after finishing the regular season in sixth place, and the first since West Ham did so in 2005.
• Top scorer Charlie Adam is set to make his 200th appearance in English and Scottish club football, and a goal would be the 50th of his career.
• Ian Evatt is set to make his 300th club career start.
Cardiff
• Cardiff have lost only two of their last 13 matches.
• They have been involved in nine previous play-off games, winning four, losing four and drawing one.
• The Bluebirds are hoping to become only the third side – and the first since Charlton 12 years ago – to win promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs after finishing the regular season in fourth place. Leicester also did it in 1995.
• Between them, striker Michael Chopra and the Championship’s top scorer Peter Whittingham have netted 45 of Cardiff’s 89 goals this season.
• Goalkeeper David Marshall is set to make his 50th appearance for Cardiff.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistant referees: Dave Bryan & Adam Watts
Fourth official: Mike Jones
MOST RECENT MEETING
Cardiff scorer: Hudson 9.
Blackpool scorer: Adam 46.
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