Fulham vs Aston Villa Prediction & Betting Tips - Championship

Prediction published on 23/05/2018, 17:11  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 28/05/2018 at 03:25 in Championship Prediction

Fulham take on Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final at Wembley with the winners going onto playing in the Premier League next season and all the riches that status brings via television money. Fulham wouldn't have been thinking of promotion when they were down in 19th in the early weeks of the season and their first nine league games only saw them earn 11 points. A defeat at Sunderland just before Christmas was the turning point and they didn't lose another league match until going down at Birmingham on the final day of the season, a game that would have seen them earn automatic promotion if they had won it. Fulham also lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final at Derby but fought back to win the home leg 2-0. If Ryan Sessengon and Aleksandar Mitrovic can keep the goals flowing then they have a great chance of returning to the Premier League.

Their opponents are hoping to get back in the top flight after a two-season absence. Aston Villa finished fourth in the Championship this season, a place and five points below their opponents but struggled to be consistently part of the race to win automatic promotion. It was March when the wheels nearly came off with a run of four points from five league games but three straight wins after that poor run made sure they didn't drop out of the play-off places. The semi-final saw a tense game against Middlesbrough and Villa won 1-0 on aggregate thanks to an away win in the first leg. The goals haven't been flowing that much of late though with only 12 scored in the last ten games and four of those were in one match. Top scorer Albert Adomah has scored just once since February and they rely more on Lewis Grabban at present. This should b a great game and it looks as if Fulham can get the win and promotion.