The Championship season has now concluded, and after ten long months of action, it is time for the play-offs.
Football FanCast looks at the referees set to take charge of each play-off clash, along with statistics from the current season for each remaining game, per Transfermarkt. The officials for the weekend’s first-leg ties were confirmed earlier this week.
|
Championship play-offs |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Norwich City |
v |
Leeds United |
12th May, 12pm |
|
West Bromwich Albion |
v |
Southampton |
12th May, 2.15pm |
|
Leeds United |
v |
Norwich City |
16th May, 8pm |
|
Southampton |
v |
West Bromwich Albion |
17th May, 8pm |
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Norwich v Leeds
Josh Smith
|
Matches |
25 |
|---|---|
|
Yellow Cards |
101 |
|
Second Yellow Cards |
2 |
|
Red Cards |
2 |
|
Penalties Awarded |
3 |
The first of the two Championship play-off semi-finals sees Norwich City welcoming Leeds United to Carrow Road. The Canaries finished sixth after losing on the final day, while Daniel Farke’s side were left to settle for third after Ipswich Town secured promotion, leading to the German boss facing his old employers.
Taking charge of the first leg is Josh Smith. He’s taken charge of the home side just twice in the campaign just gone, including their 3-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers on home soil and their 2-2 draw in the East Anglia derby just before Christmas.
Leeds will look more kindly on the stats, having won two of their four meetings involving Smith this past term. However, their only away game with Smith as referee ended in defeat to Preston North End.
West Bromwich Albion v Southampton
Sam Barrott
|
Matches |
21 |
|---|---|
|
Yellow Cards |
62 |
|
Second Yellow Cards |
2 |
|
Red Cards |
0 |
|
Penalties Awarded |
6 |
Sunday’s second semi comes at The Hawthorns as West Brom take on Southampton, who were both in the top six for most of the season. Carlos Corberan’s side managed to sneak into fifth after Norwich dropped points in their final game, while the Saints had assured themselves of their play-off place some time ago after falling out of the automatic promotion race.
Overseeing proceedings in the Black Country will be Sam Barrott. The referee took charge of his first Premier League game at the age of 30 earlier this season and has since racked up 15 top-flight games in total this term.
The hosts may be glad to see him in this crucial game, as the Baggies were successful in each of Barrott’s previous two meetings, the last of which was their 2-0 win over Rotherham United in December.
Southampton have brief, yet more recent memories of Barrott, as he took charge of their rearranged clash against Preston, which the Saints won comfortably.
One potential thing to highlight is that Barrott is averaging a penalty award every 3.5 Championship games – and hasn’t given one since March. Could we be due one this weekend?
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