Michael Brown now predicts who will win the Championship play-off final…Leeds United or Southampton

Both teams missed out on automatic promotion in the closing weeks of the season, relegated alongside each other 12 months ago.

The OPTA supercomputer had Leeds and Southampton as favorites to progress to their respective semi-finals, and given how comfortably they both fared, it’s hard to argue against this being the correct final.

Southampton were the only team in the regular season to complete a league double ahead of Leeds, but finished three points behind them in the table.

Brown predicts the winner of the Leeds vs Southampton play-off final

Sunday’s game is the second of two huge finals at Wembley this weekend, with the two Manchester clubs facing off in the FA Cup today.

However, this is arguably the most significant given the finances on offer, meaning Brown is the latest of several pundits to make their prediction.

They are all clearly finding it difficult to separate the two sides, with Graeme Souness and Troy Deeney among those supporting Leeds.

Dion Dublin, on the other hand, is one of several tipping Southampton to do their job, but speaking on BBC 5Live Friday Night Social, Brown sided with his former club.

He said: “I know Southampton won last day at Leeds United but I think obviously things are not set in stone. I don’t think I’ll buy too much into it. Good response from Leeds, winning 4-0 against Norwich.

“I think they’ll go a little bit over the experience, the players they have, I just feel the attacking style. It will be an interesting game, both teams will want to get the ball.

“I think overall Southampton did well. I think Leeds are just favourites, but it’s the play-offs, it’s a difficult situation, it’s a nervous one, anything can happen.”

Leeds vs Southampton final could decide James McAtee’s future

Not only will Sunday’s winner be rewarded with the prize of Premier League football, but it will also be such a huge financial boost.

Whoever comes out on top will have a lot more freedom when it comes to spending money in the transfer market this summer.

Parachute payments are reduced by 10% in the second season after relegation, with the EFL’s PSR constraints considerably stricter than in the Premier League.

And there have already been reports that both sides will set their sights on a £20m move for Manchester City attacking midfielder James McAtee if they win.

McAtee is a talented young player that City are willing to sell and with clubs interested it just adds that extra layer to an already exciting final.

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