With the premier league has come to a close, teams in other leagues would be looking to secure their positions in their leagues. One of such leagues would surely be the Sky Bet League. With the playoffs already taking place, there would be so much apprehension between the teams as to the steps which they should take to achieve victory. This would be the situation which Portsmouth and Sunderland would find themselves going into the second tie of the match. They will both be hoping to secure in order to proceed to the finals of the promotion race
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is a team who has a lot of memories playing in the premier league. However, since going down, the team has taken a big slump. However, they have the chance to move one place up in the rank of clubs with this playoffs. Portsmouth is currently 4th in the league before the playoffs. They were just 3 points off a place in the straight promotion mix and they would have been gutted to miss out on it. Portsmouth would desperately want to get back to the English premier league in the future and the first step towards achieving that would be changing the 1-0 lead which Sunderland have managed to achieve in the first leg of the playoffs.
Sunderland
Sunderland is one of the teams who also have a rich heritage in the world of football especially when it comes to the premier league. However, they would be conscious of just how far they have fallen from their premier glory. These playoffs would offer them a chance to play in the championship next season which is a gateway to the premier league. Sunderland finished the league campaign with 85 points which were 6 points off the pace for straight promotion. After winning the first match at home, they would want to make sure that they change all that in this second league.
Form
When it comes to the form, both teams have found their recent form to be inconsistent. Portsmouth has won just two of their last six games. The other matches have ended in two wins, two losses, and two draws. It has been four matches since Portsmouth recorded a win in any competition and this has come back to haunt them in the league. They would be hoping to change all that when the end of the 90 minutes in the second leg of this fixture.
Sunderland, on the other hand, have had not so much of a good form at present. They have managed to win two of their last six games. The remaining matches have ended in two draws and two losses. They have won just once in their last five games in all competition. At this point, they would give their recent form for a place in the championship.
There is no doubt that this game would be close and at the end, it might just come back to who wants it the most.
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