Slavisa Jokanovic’s men have history on their side but there are reasons to believe for Middlesbrough, Derby and Aston Villa
Some teams flourish, some fret and some freeze but there is nothing quite like the pressure-cooker that is the Championship play-offs, where promotion and almost £200m are at stake. By June, one of four reasonable heavyweights – Aston Villa, Derby, Fulham or Middlesbrough – will be back in the Premier League.
Four legs and a final, at Wembley, will decide who that is but until then, let the brave, often defeatist, meaningless rogue predictions, mind games and number crunching commence. Now is the time to be choked by cliche; how form is temporary, class is permanent and how head-to-head records and the state of the league table counts for nothing any more. Or does it?
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