PREVIEW: CPOF - Watford v Leeds

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Championship play-off final

Millennium Stadium
Sunday, 21 May
Kick-off: 1500 BST




Watford will pick from a virtually full-strength squad for Sunday's Championship play-off final.

Hameur Bouazza is likely to be back having recovered from a broken foot but Clarke Carlisle is set to be missing with a hip strain.

Leeds will be without the services of left-back Stephen Crainey and striker Richard Cresswell.

Both players are suspended for the trip to Cardiff after being sent off in the play-off win over Preston.



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Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd:
"I've worked with him (his former boss at Leeds Kevin Blackwell), I know what he's like under pressure and I think that might give me a slight edge.
"Mind you, he'd probably say he's spent £12m and he's manager of Leeds United and that gives him an edge.

"Regardless of that, for me to finish off the season we have to cap it off with promotion."


Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell:
"We've helped address some of the financial problems and whatever happens we will come away £2-3m richer and it all helps.
"But if we could get the club back to the Premiership I think it could move the club three or four years forward.

"The financial side, though, is not the players' responsibility - they can only go and play the game on Sunday."



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BIG-MATCH FACTS

LEEDS UNITED and Watford go head-to-head at the Millennium Stadium in what is, in financial terms, the most critical fixture of the entire domestic season. At stake is a £30-40 million place in the Barclays Premiership. The two managers formally worked together at Elland Road where Kevin Blackwell made Adrian Boothroyd first team coach in one of his first appointments as manager of Leeds in June 2004. Blackwell did not stand in Boothroyd's way eight months later when Watford appointed him the League's youngest manager - a title he has since relinquished to Chris Casper of Bury.

It was in this month five years ago that Leeds faced Valencia for a place in the Champions League final. They missed out, and then failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season; the start of a decline that culminated in relegation from the Premiership and near-financial ruin two years ago. But under chairman Ken Bates and manager Blackwell the rebuilding has brought them to the brink of a return to the top flight.

The Whites spent the majority of the regular League season hovering between third and fifth in the table, ending up in fifth, two places and three points behind Watford. They met Preston in the play-off semi-finals, and were held to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road. But two quick-fire second-leg goals from Rob Hulse and Fraser Richardson secured a 3-1 aggregate victory over Billy Davies' side. But it came at some cost. Stephen Crainey and Richard Cresswell were both sent off for two yellow cards in that second leg - the latter got his second yellow for kicking the ball away. The pair are therefore suspended for this final. Both of these clubs are paying their first ever visits to the Millennium Stadium. Leeds travel with just two wins from their last 12 games - Watford are unbeaten in seven (three wins, four draws).

WATFORD have made an incredible journey since staving off relegation by two points 12 months ago. In their first full season under 35-year-old Boothroyd, the Hornets never broke into the top two but spent the last six months of the regular season in the top four and finished in third place. Five clubs finishing third in the second tier have won promotion through the play-offs, but not since Bolton in 2001. Five clubs finishing fifth have also gone on to clinch a place in the top flight in the 19 years of this end-of-season competition - Wolves being the most recent three years ago.

Graham Taylor's Watford spent just one season in the Premiership in 1999/2000, finishing at the foot, with just six wins and 24 points. They arrived in the big time via the play-offs then, beating Birmingham in the semi-finals and then Bolton 2-0 at Wembley, with goals from Nick Wright and sub Allan Smart. This is their third experience of the play-offs. They failed to get past Blackburn at the semi-final stage in 1989.

This Championship play-off final is a classic north versus south confrontation. Watford did their best work to reach Cardiff in the first leg of the semi-final against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Second-half goals from Marlon King, Ashley Young and Matthew Spring gave the Vicarage Road club a three-goal lead for the home leg. It was an advantage they did not relinquish, although the second leg will be remembered for a mass brawl, sparked by Boothroyd, for which the Watford boss will not face a touchline ban, as feared. This is only the 13th meeting of these clubs in all competitions, but Watford have not beaten Leeds since a 2-1 home triumph in the third round of the Coca Cola League Cup in November 1992. Leeds are unbeaten in six and they completed the 'double' when both clubs were in the Premiership six seasons ago. Leeds have won two and drawn two since. That includes a goalless draw at Vicarage Road in October.

Report
The most recent clash was a fiery affair in which Watford finished with only nine men. Keeper Ben Foster and Darius Henderson got their marching orders in the 2-1 victory for Leeds at Elland Road in February.
Report


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Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)



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THIS SEASON'S LEAGUE MEETINGS:

Watford 0-0 Leeds United
1 October 2005 - Ref: Brian Curson

Leeds United 2-1 Watford
14 February 2006 - Ref: Mike Jones
Leeds scorers: Blake 60 pen, 81
Watford scorer: Young 40
Sent Off: Foster 57, Henderson 61 (both Watford)



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HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
All competitions: Leeds 5 wins, Watford 4, Draws 3
League: Leeds 5 wins, Watford 2, Draws 3

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United boss Kevin Blackwell believes victory in Sunday's Championship Play-off final at Cardiff will go to the team who can handle the occasion the best.

With the match sold out, and with the majority of seats going to Leeds fans, the Millennium Stadium will have a great atmosphere and 70,000 people plus a global audience of millions will remind the players just how big a game it is and how equally big the grand prize at the end of it is.

Under such circumstances Blackwell insists it is only human nature to feel nervous, but he believes his players can prove to be men for the big occasion.

"It's just one game that we go into knowing that the team that performs the best and handles the situation the best will win," he said.

"You only have to go back 12 months when Preston were the form team up against West Ham who only just scraped into the final, but on the day Preston did not turn up and many of the players simply froze.

"You can only do the preparation for the day as you think is right, once the players cross that white line it's down to them and how they handle it. One of the good things for us at Leeds is that we are a big club and they are used to playing in front of big crowds.

"I know many of the Preston people felt that the atmosphere at Elland Road the other night was something they'd never experienced before, and they'd only been at the Millennium Stadium 12 months before. It surprised me that they'd said it but the atmosphere the fans have helped to create this season can stand us in good stead for the Millennium.

"We know it's all about on the day and how the players handle it."

Despite just being a possible 90 minutes away from a top flight return, Blackwell has not got carried away with talk of the Premiership but get there or not on Sunday, and the club will have still benefited enormously.

"If we could get the club back to the Premiership on Sunday I think it could move the club three or four years forward," he added.

"But that's not the players responsibility, they can only go and play the game, the financial side has to take care of itself. What we have done is help address some of the financial problems because whatever happens we will come away £2-3m richer anyway and it all helps.

"The other thing that happens is it raises the profile of the football club, people are starting to talk about us as a football club again, not about the debts or misdemeanors and that's what I am proud of."