At 4.00 pm the three days of Wembley begins , in the first of the three Play Off finals the challenge with the highest stakes: the pass to the Premier League .

The two winners of the semifinals face each other: Brentford who overtook Bournemouth and finished the regular season in third place and Swansea who finished fourth in the season and in the semifinals got the better of Barnsley.

This is Brentford: the attack warms up the engines

The Brentford came close to promotion last season, only losing in extra time in the match against Fulham; the last final was played without an audience that will instead be present today even if only in a few thousand.

The Bees replaced their top scorer Ollie Watkins, who joined Aston Villa, with striker Ivan Toney taken from Peterborough in League Two, who became the season’s top scorer with 31 goals; he will be the star among the Londoners on the afternoon of Wembley .

However, Manager Thomas Frank’s team is built on a solid group, largely the same as last season, and has shown all its worth in the Regular Season, finishing just four points from automatic promotion; with four consecutive victories.

In the semi-final, after a somewhat blocked first leg, he showed all his offensive potential in the return leg, scoring three goals at Bournemouth with three different scorers.

Here Swansea: Woodman and Ayew to win

Even the Swansea took part in the last edition of the playoffs, losing in the semifinals just by Bees; the training of Manager Steve Cooper overcame several difficulties during the season due to numerous injuries and a calendar that for Covid-19 was particularly busy and intense for them.

As for Brentford, the star of the Welsh is the striker Andre Ayew , who is joined by a mix of young and experienced players; another backbone of the Swansea is the goalkeeper Freddie Woodman , winner of the award as the best goalkeeper of the Championship ; wonderful season for him completed by the two decisive performances in the semifinal won against Barnsley in which he was absolutely unbeatable.

Obviously it will be difficult to make a prediction, it will be a very close and balanced match, with Brentford likely to play the game and Swansea ready to restart on the counterattack.

By Gianluca Urgnani