Sheffield Wednesday vs Brighton Betting Tips & Predictions

Brighton come into this game after the disappointment of narrowly missing out on automatic promotion on the final day when they could only draw 1-1 at Middlesbrough. A win would have seen them go up automatically but they’ve had no choice but to pick themselves up and prepare for the play-offs. They should still be able to carry a fair amount of confidence into these matches given they have suffered just 1 defeat in 20 games and picked up 15 more points in the regular season than Sheffield Wednesday.

We are unlikely to see anything too gung-ho from Brighton here though, given they will be wary of Sheffield Wednesday’s impressive home record. A draw would certainly be a good result for the visitors and would quell fears they might fold under the pressure having been unfortunate to miss out on a top two berth. Certainly if this game ends level you’d strongly fancy Brighton to progress to Wembley when the sides meet again next week on the South Coast.

Sheffield Wednesday will know that taking on Brighton at their own ground just 6 days after the disappointment Chris Hughton’s side suffered at the Riverside offers them their best shot at progress. The Owls have the confidence of a 3-0 win over Cardiff in a crunch game in their last home game behind them and they have only lost 1 of their last 20 matches at Hillsborough.

However the circumstances here are rather different. Cardiff had to win that match to stay in the hunt for the play-offs and the Owls could afford to be patient and ultimately picked off their opponents in the Second Half. Brighton are a better team than the Bluebirds and don’t need to chase this game so the onus will be more on Wednesday to take the fight to Brighton than the other way around.

Although their home record has been good, there have been occasions where they’ve struggled to break cautious sides down and in the past couple of months they’ve failed to score in home games against MK Dons and Rotherham.

There will be nerves on both sides in what is a massive match for both clubs which will be played out in front of a huge crowd at Hillsborough which should help the hosts. As 1st Legs often are it is likely to be quite cagey, particularly in the opening stages and neutrals won’t be encouraged to know that both meetings between the clubs in the regular season finished 0-0.

A repeat would be no great stunner here but it’s a tough game to call particularly given it’s hard to know how Brighton will react to their late failure to clinch automatic promotion. Both sides are tough to beat though and backing there to be under 1.5 goals at 7/4 looks to offer value here.