Kick-off: 1630, 29/05/2022
Stadium: Wembley
TV: Sky Sports
Huddersfield take on Nottingham Forest in an intriguing Championship play-off final, with a place in the Premier League next season at stake.
Forest arguably have the better team on paper, but Town are resilient, hang in there in matches and have a happy knack of taking their chances.
We reckon 2.6 for the underdogs to gain promotion is a value bet for our first Huddersfield vs Nottingham Forest prediction.
Huddersfield Town Odds
Huddersfield finished two points above Forest in third at the end of the regular season, during which they split league wins at each other’s grounds.
Significantly, Town enjoyed six wins and a draw from their final seven games to go into the play-offs with lots of momentum.
After drawing 1-1 at Luton in the first leg, the Terriers were admittedly outplayed for large parts of the reverse fixture.
However, that famous Yorkshire grit came to the fore as they held firm at the back and then Jordan Rhodes pounced for an 82nd-minute sucker punch.
Manager Carlos Corberan is convinced his players have “the right mentality” to secure a return to the top flight, having struggled for the past two seasons to recover from being relegated in 2019.
Corberan, in his second term in charge, said: “We knew that having the right character was going to be important if we wanted to reach Wembley.
“Nothing makes me feel more proud than seeing how happy the fans are and how much they identify with the team.
“It was not an easy game and we had to work really, really hard.
“I don’t think there was really a time where we were better than Luton, but we got the special moment from a set-piece.”
Veteran striker Rhodes has laboured this season by his own high standards but seems to have hit form at just the right time.
That neat far-post finish made it three goals in five games and Huddersfield vs Nottingham Forest odds.
Nottingham Forest Odds
Although it was honours even in the league this term, Forest can take heart from having come from behind to beat Huddersfield 2-1 in a fifth-round FA Cup tie.
In the play-offs, the Reds had to come through a fierce battle with a Sheffield United outfit chasing an instant return to the Premier League.
Forest won 2-1 at Bramall Lane and took a 1-0 lead on home turf, but two second-half goals from the Blades at the City Ground levelled things up.
Fortunately, Brice Samba produced some penalty shoot-out heroics to send his side to Wembley, saving three spot-kicks.
Head coach Steve Cooper took charge of the club when they were bottom of the second tier last September, but a top-flight return for the first time since 1999 is now possible.
He said: “To get through a two-legged play-off semi-final, you have to do everything – and we’ve managed to come through a lot.
“I would have loved to have won the game 3-1 and walked off, but the fact we’ve done it like we have means we’re more tooled up now to go to the final.
“I promise you I will work even harder than I’ve worked to get this. No days off, I’ll be the first one at the training ground and we’ll be ready.
“Don’t come into something and not aim to be the best, there’s no point just competing, especially at this football club – it deserves the best.”
Forest won’t go down without a fight and this promises to be a tight tussle, but only two of the last 19 Championship play-off finals have gone to extra-time.
Let’s add 4.8 for Town to oblige by any one-goal margin after 90 minutes to our Huddersfield vs Nottingham Forest betting tips.
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