Home of football statistics and historyAston Villa and Derby County meet in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley on Monday with a place in the Premier League on the line.
With promotion to the top flight estimated to be worth around £170 million to the winning side, the game is sure to be a hard-fought encounter.
Villa finished fifth in the Championship during the regular season, with a run of one defeat in their final 13 matches securing their place in the play-offs.
Derby also finished the season well, racking up a six-game unbeaten run to pip Middlesbrough to sixth place.
Villa beat West Bromwich Albion on penalties to get to Wembley, while Derby produced a stunning comeback to defeat Leeds 4-2 at Elland Road to overcome a one goal deficit after the first leg.
There will be plenty of punters eager to use the bet365 bonus code to back Villa to win inside 90 minutes on Monday, with Dean Smith’s side dominating Derby in their two regular season meetings.
Three goals in the last 16 minutes saw Villa secure a 3-0 victory at Pride Park back in November and they followed up with an emphatic 4-0 win on home soil later in the season.
Smith is sweating on the fitness of Axel Tuanzebe after the on-loan defender picked up an injury against West Brom. Orjan Nyland, Tom Carroll and Jordan Lyden are definitely ruled out for Villa.
Martyn Waghorn is doubtful for Derby after missing the Leeds game with an injury he picked up on the final day of the regular season.
Scott Moore misses the game through suspension, while Marcus Olsson, Craig Forsyth, Curtis Davies, Craig Bryson and Andy King are all on the sidelines.
Villa are on a recovery mission in this year’s final after missing out on promotion against Fulham in controversial fashion in 2018.
Tom Cairney’s 23rd minute goal proved to be the difference between the two sides, but Villa should have been awarded at least one penalty and had a man advantage for more than an hour.
Ryan Fredericks escaped a red card shortly after Cairney’s goal, despite landing studs first on Jack Grealish’s leg.
Several Villa penalty appeals were also waved away by referee Anthony Taylor, including one late in the game when Grealish went down under a challenge from Matt Targett.
Derby also suffered heartache in their last appearance in the final back in 2014, as Bobby Zamora’s late goal sent Queens Park Rangers into the Premier League at the Rams’ expense.
Villa will take heart from their recent record against Derby, having lost just one of their last meetings in all competitions.
However, Derby produced an impressive performance in the second leg of their semi-final against Leeds and it would be foolish to underestimate their chances.
The two sides bagged 151 league goals between them during the regular season and it would be no surprise to see a goal-packed affair on Monday.
Over 3.5 goals in the match can be backed at odds of 5/2 and that looks a solid wager in what could be a hugely entertaining Championship play-off final encounter.
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