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Championship Play Offs
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09-05-2013 7:43pm#1Start tonight:
Leicester -v- Watford (1st leg tonight, 2nd leg Sunday at 12:30)
Brighton -v- Crystal Palace (1st leg tomorrow 19:45, 2nd leg Monday 19:45)
The race for the Premier League starts tonight!
Amazing contrasts in the two teams tonight. Watford, the team who have been on form since January, will be downbeat after narrowly missing out on 2nd last week. Leicester, who were poor and only won 3 in 17, are in the play offs on a high buzz after a 90th minute goal secured 6th for them last week.1
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v 
Selhurst Park is the venue on Friday for the first instalment of the npower Championship Play-Off semi-final between fierce rivals Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion, with the match kicking off at 7.45pm.
The Eagles come into the game having broken a nine-match winless run on the final day of the season, beating Peterborough United 3-2, and that torrid string of games included a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
Ian Holloway's side were criticised for not appreciating the intensity of the rivalry after their loss on the South Coast but the club's Player of the Year, Mile Jedinak, insisted the squad is now well aware of the significance of games against their the Seagulls.
The Australian international told the Croydon Guardian: "The ones that weren't up to scratch with the rivalry know the importance of it now. We know the importance of every game but we know the importance of this one as well.
"We cannot let it affect us too much though, your performance can sometimes slip if you don't control the emotions, so we need to and that is going to be the key.
"There's been a buzz around the place and we are all looking forward to the game. If you had said to us at the start of the season, we would make the Play-Offs, we would have jumped at it."
Brighton finished the season fourth, a place higher than the Eagles, and with the division's best defensive record having conceded just 43 goals in their 46 games.
They also dropped just two points in their last five fixtures and didn't taste defeat in any of their final nine league outings, meaning they come into the Play-Offs in the best form of any of the four teams taking part.
Brighton manager Gus Poyet explained that his players must treat this game the same as any other, even though bragging rights are at stake.
The 45-year-old told www.seagulls.co.uk: "The only thing I don't like about playing Palace is that it's not a normal game - but I want it to be as normal as possible. We need to make it about being a football game, only thinking about football and nothing silly. Over the two matches it could be two magnificent games of football.
"Let's not do anything silly because it's not worth it. Let's remember it's about who plays better on the day and nothing else - and accept that."
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
• These arch-rivals first met in 1920 and only one win separates them after 96 games; Crystal Palace have won 36, Brighton 37, with 23 drawn.
• Both league meetings this season were won 3-0 by the club playing at home. This equivalent fixture saw Palace scoring two penalties, a double from Glenn Murray against his former club, and a red card for Brighton, who had Lewis Dunk sent off after only eight minutes.
• This is the first time in 22 years they are meeting outside of a regular league match.
Crystal Palace
• Crystal Palace ended the regulation 46 fixtures on a four-match unbeaten sequence, sending Peterborough down with a 3-2 home win in their last game.
• Palace (fifth) finished in their highest position in five seasons, immediately below Brighton with three fewer points, an equal number of victories (19) and four more goals.
• The Eagles were the highest home scorers in the Football League with 52 goals from 23 games.
• They were one of the most resilient clubs in the Championship, winning six games from losing positions.
• Palace have been promoted to the top flight via the play-offs on three occasions - in 1989, 1997 and 2004.
• They have won the first leg of the semi-final on three occasions and made the final four times, but have failed to do so on both counts in their most recent two attempts - in 2006 and 2008.
Brighton & Hove Albion
• Brighton ended the regular season on a longer unbeaten sequence than any other club in the Championship of nine matches, winning five (including the last three) and drawing four since losing at Barnsley on 12 March.
• Fourth place was their highest finish since relegation from the top flight in 1983.
• They were the draw specialists of the second tier (18 of 46), and boasted the meanest defence, conceding just 43 goals.
• The Seagulls were the only club who both did not lose a Championship match in which they scored first and did not win one in which they conceded the opening goal.
• This is Brighton's third play-off campaign. They failed to go up to the top flight through them in 1991, but were promoted into the second tier in 2004 via this route.
• The south coast club won the first leg of both semi-finals and reached the final on both occasions; the first at the old Wembley, the second at the Millennium Stadium.
Come on you Seagulls!! I'm predicting a narrow victory for Brighton by the odd goal in three. On their day they are the best team in the division, if they had a better middle third of the season, they'd have been challenging for automatic.0 -
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