Hello my dear friends! So, the football season 2018/2019 in Europe is coming to an end. Today will be the final rounds in Italy and Russia, as well as will become known to another participant of the Championship. We will talk about this match. The final playoff match in which Charlton and Sunderland will fight for the right to play in the Championship.
Charlton Athletic went to England's second-best division in the 2015/2016 season, then the team took 22nd place and looked very weak during the tournament. The following season, the team finished in 13th place and became one of the few teams from the second ten leagues, which ended the season with a positive goal difference. Season 2017/2018 The Addicks finished in 6th place, which allowed them to fight in the playoffs, but Shrewsbury Town stopped them there. And so, this season the team will try to make it to the league for the second time higher. The team overcame the season very worthily and even fought for a direct entry to the Championship, but in the end, there was not enough Addicks for three points to reach the second place. In the semifinals of the playoffs there was a real massacre with Doncaster Rovers, where in the end everything was decided in a penalty shootout.
In the meantime, while Charlton was gathering his strength and trying to overcome the playoffs, their current rival steadily went down. The fall of Sunderland was one of the fastest in modern football. “Black cats” almost every season of the Premier League ended up in the balance from relegation to the Championship, but in the 2016/2017 season, nothing could save them from falling in class. Having taken the last place in the Premier League, the next season the team started in the Championship and immediately left it, going to the League One. Season 2017/2018 Sunderland spent almost worse than the previous one and finished last in the league. But this season, the team, having come to their senses, did not allow another failure and eventually won a place in the playoffs. In many ways, this was facilitated by a well-conducted transfer company, who joined Max Powell in the summer and helped the cats a lot. During their protracted crisis, many of the players left the team, but experienced Aiden McGeady and Lee Cattermole are still here, and the team of Lynden Gooch and Adam Matthews also failed.
Both of these teams pleased their fans with a bright game for most of the season, but now the situation has changed and is incommensurable at stake than in any other match of the season. Sunderland looks preferable due to experience and not yet completely lost during the years of crisis class. A bad form in the end of the championship can become a problem, and even a victory over Portsmouth does not make them the favorite of this match.
“The Addicks” on the contrary at the finish of the season looked very powerful, but they now have fewer opportunities and they lost leaders in the course of the season just like Sunderland. Only now, if the “black cats” did not find an equivalent substitute, then Charlton managed to find a substitute for the leader of the attack, Karlan Ahearne-Grant, who departed to Huddersfield during the season. However, Charlton has less experience, the line-up is worse, they didn't miss several games in a row before the playoffs, but Doncaster skillfully showed all the problems in their defense. In general, both teams are worthy of each other, Charlton looks a little better than the opponent and, perhaps, in this match you can consider Charlton's victory in live.
I also consider the following bets on this match:
- Both teams score with 2.05
- Individual total Charlton over 1 with 2.03
Good Luck!