Day: May 25, 2018

Having ended the 2016 and 2017 season as league champions, it must have hurt really bad for Copenhagen to see themselves in fourth position this season. In truth, they never really threatened the top two teams, but this game offers them the chance to finish the season in a European place.

If Copenhagen can beat this Aarhus side that finished the season in the tenth position, they can finish in a Europa League spot. Judging by how easily they have dispatched teams on their home turf this season, that shouldn’t be too much to ask of them.

Aarhus come into this game still struggling defensively like they did when both sides met the last time, and they would need to be better than they have been in recent weeks to get a result in this game. The last time they visited this venue, they conceded 4 times.

The hosts, who come here having conceded at least once in all but one of their last ten matches, have been by no means secure defensively this season, so the visitors, who have scored plenty of goals recently, won’t hesitate to have a go. Profiting offensively may not be beyond Aarhus, though keeping things tight at the back is likely to be a step too far, especially since they’ve struggled to hold off lesser opposition in recent weeks.

Although this game is worth the excess of £160 million to the winners, the fans of these teams would be less interested in the money than they are in their team getting back into the Premier League after two years and four years absence for Villa and Fulham respectively.

Villa is the most popular club here, and these two teams may have to deal with losing most of their star players this summer if they fail to make the step up following this playoff final. However, Fulham are the form favourite after going unbeaten from December to May before falling to a final day defeat that denied them automatic qualification, they had been 23 games unbeaten at that time.

Villa would be delighted that Fulham failed just when it matters, and their manager’s tactical success over Tony Pulis in the Playoff semifinals would have boosted their confidence that they can outplay their opponents in this game.

Villa’s win may be decided on how well they can nullify the threat of Ryan Sessegnon and they may call on Allan Hutton here again after his excellent man-marking job on Adama Traore in the last round.

Aleksandar Mitrovic is another player that Villa would have to worry about especially as Fulham can now play the ball to either his feet or cross from out wide.

Fulham struggled against Derby County in the last round, and Villa are certainly a better opposition to them and this game could be headed for an unlikely stalemate here after 90 minutes.

Since Villa dropped out of the top flight, all four Championship meetings between these clubs have produced home wins. Villa have actually lost their last four games against Fulham in London but clearly, all of those games were at Craven Cottage rather than the neutral turf of Wembley.