The first set of playoffs to determine who will be the third team promoted from the Championship to the Premier League kick off tomorrow with Leicester, Watford, Brighton and Crystal Palace all in contention.

We have one northern team, one team who have never graced the Premier League and one team to have featured in the end of season competition on four previous occasions. The fixtures for the 2012/13 Championship play-offs are as follows:

Thursday May 9
Leicester City vs Watford, 2:45pm ET (live on beIN SPORT)

Friday, May 10
Crystal Palace vs Brighton, 2:45pm ET (live on beIN SPORT)

Sunday, May 12
Watford vs Leicester City, 7:30am ET (live on beIN SPORT)

Monday, May 13
Brighton vs Crystal Palace, 2:45pm ET (live on beIN SPORT)

Monday, May 27, FINAL
TBD vs TBD

Head To Head

Leicester v Watford – The Hornets will go into the two-legged tie confident having narrowly missed out on automatic promotion and finishing the season 11 points above their rivals, however it’s Leicester City who have the upper hand in previous meetings of the two. The Foxes have recorded 22 wins from a total of 54 matches through history with 16 draws and 16 defeats. They will be looking for their first victory against their London counterparts in four attempts though having not beaten them since October 2011 and suffering 2-1 defeats in both outings this campaign. Both these sides have spent time in the Premier League during its current format, the Foxes have enjoyed eight seasons with the latest coming in 2003/04 while Watford have endured two single seasons with the elite in 1999/00 and 2006/07

Crystal Palace v Brighton – It will be hard to find an out and out favorite in this interesting match-up as both sides recorded 3-0 victories in their respective home fixture during this domestic season. The two sides have faced each other a total of 92 times in all competitions and have proved hard to separate with the Seagulls just edging proceedings with 36 victories to 33 while 23 draws have been fought out.

Interesting Facts

Leicester – Leicester City moved into their King Power stadium (then called the Walker’s Stadium) in 2002 and in the first ever competitive game recorded a 2-0 victory against Watford – their opponents in the play-offs – in front of a crowd of 31,022. Five years ago they were playing their football in League One along with fellow play-off hopefuls Brighton.

Watford – With 85 goals the Hornets netted more times than any other team in the league this season. Striker Troy Deeney had arguably his best season in a Watford shirt finding the net 19times – his last ironically against Leicester – but was sent off in the final game against Leeds and could miss the play-off semi-finals.

Crystal Palace – Striker Glenn Murray finished the season as the league’s top scorer with 30. Palace have featured in play-off campaigns four times previously only losing on one occasion (1995/96). The last time Palace were promoted to the top division was in 2003/04 via the play-offs before being relegated after just one season. The Eagles were left manager-less in October when Dougie Freedman vacated for Bolton. New boss Ian Holloway has guided Palace to the top six while Freedman missed out with the last kick of the season.

Brighton – Despite plying his playing trade in the Premier League with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur Gus Poyet’s Brighton have never been involved in the current top flight and could join Cardiff in that feat with success over the next three games. In fact the Seagulls haven’t played in the English top division since 1983 when they were relegated to the old division Two. After winning promotion to the Championship in 2011, they moved into their new AMEX Arena stadium and have since proved hard to beat having lost 23 of their 92 (exactly one quarter) league games.

This year’s nPower Championship season has been one of the closest of all time, and Saturday’s action will be intense as we go into the final game of the 2012/13 campaign with promotion and play-off places still up for grabs and any two of six teams still facing the drop into League One.

Promotion Candidates

First of all a big congratulations must go to Cardiff City. Following several seasons on the brink of promotion with failed play-off campaigns, the Bluebirds finally earned their place amongst the elite for the first time in their history at the end of a turbulent season and will come face to face with their Welsh rivals Swansea in the big league next term.

Elsewhere the battle for the second automatic spot is still very much alive with current occupants Hull City and their rivals Watford locked in a final day showdown. With The Tigers going down 2-0 to relegation threatened Barnsley at the weekend and Gianfranco Zola’s Hornets being victorious at Leicester 24 hours earlier, just one point now separates the two. Therefore a win at home to already champions Cardiff City will confirm Hull’s return to the Premier League after two years away while anything less and they will have to rely on a slip-up at Vicarage Road where Watford entertain lacklustre Leeds.

Fight for Play-Off Places

Brighton with 72 points are the only team besides either Hull or Watford to be guaranteed a place in the end of season lottery that is the play-offs. Crystal Palace (69) and Bolton Wanderers (67) currently make up the top six but could lose out to either Nottingham Forest (67) or Leicester City (65). The Eagles could have sealed their own destiny on Tuesday, however a goalless draw against struggling Millwall wasn’t enough and they require a victory to make complete sure on Saturday, their visitors though are Peterborough United who also need all three points to ensure they stay in the Championship. Last season’s relegated team Bolton are in the final play-off spot albeit on goal difference only, therefore their derby encounter against Blackpool holds even more significance than normal. If the Trotters slip up at home and drop points then either Nottingham Forest or Leicester will be looking to pounce. However, the added spice to the occasion is that the two teams meet at the City Ground so only one, and not both, can extend their season.

Battle to Avoid Relegation

At the basement end of the table there will be even more last day drama. Bristol City said goodbye to the Championship officially a couple of weeks ago but the other two spaces in the trap door are still wide open. As we approach the final game any two of six teams can still be mathematically relegated none more so than another team who last season were competing in the Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Last Saturday was a disastrous day for Wolves, along with a 2-1 home defeat to Burnley all other results went against the Midland club and it has now left them requiring somewhat of a miracle to escape. They currently hold 23^rd position and are three points adrift, therefore only a win is acceptable when they travel to Brighton and only good enough if both Barnsley and Peterborough return from their travels empty handed.

Barnsley – who gave themselves a real chance with a fine 2-0 win over Hull last week – are the final team currently in the relegation zone, but only on goal difference and the Maths when it comes to the Tykes is easy. On 54 points they face a Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town, the irony with this game is that although the Terriers look safe enough in 18^th and on 57 points their goal difference is only worsened by Bristol City, therefore although a draw would be enough to secure Championship football for another season whereas defeat would see them drop below their Yorkshire rivals thus meaning Barnsley would then be guaranteed safety. The Tykes on the other hand could survive with a draw depending on Peterborough’s result away at Crystal Palace but will definitely be condemned to League One with anything less.

Peterborough travel to Crystal Palace also requiring a win, failure to do so could still guarantee their future in the second tier provided they match Barnsley’s result and Wolves do not win by more than four goals.

The other two teams still scrapping for survival are Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall. The latter would need a four goal swing to go against them if they claim a point against Derby County in order for that to not be enough, while Sheffield Wednesday who are at home to Middlesbrough definitely need a victory to seal their status. A 1-0 defeat at the hands of Peterborough in their last outing puts them only one point above their conquerors and again they have a worse goal difference meaning that defeat coupled with a draw for the Posh would see the clubs switch places, however if they did lose it would still see them safe if Barnsley fail to win.

Whatever happens at the weekend it is sure to be a fascinating day of football and if all the above statistics and possible outcomes is confusing, here is the complete bottom half of the table as it stands: