Today’s ultimate is a battle of groups that completed third and fifth respectively within the Championship desk.
Luton had been a full 10 factors forward of Coventry in the long run, with the 2 sides drawing 1-1 on the CBS Arena in February and 2-2 at Kenilworth Road again in September.
Neither facet are prolific scorers - netting solely 57 and 58 respectively within the common season - and each have miserly defences, with solely 39 and 46 shipped. Luton had the identical defensive file as promoted Sheffield United.
"We are under no illusions Luton are going to be made favourites because they finished 10 points ahead of us in the division,” Robins said this week.
"Luton are a extremely good workforce with some good technical gamers and have the ability to go along with that. That's why they completed third.
"They are a year ahead of us in their development (Luton were play-off semi-finalists last season) and are expected to go up. No one expected us to be in this game.
"But the change of possession has accelerated our five-year plan by 5 years. We've acquired to attempt to and end this off, however to be able to do this is in itself unimaginable."
It’s not just the legions of sky-blue clad Coventry fans who are enjoying themselves in the Wembley Way sunshine as we edge ever closer to kick-off.
Plenty of white and orange on display as well.
Coventry’s rise has been similarly remarkable, having been dragged back from the basement during two memorable spells under Mark Robins.
They earned two promotions in three seasons between 2018-20, getting back to the Championship for the first time since 2012.
They’ve had to play at Northampton and Birmingham with no home of their own for stretches amid so much off-field drama, playing seven of the first nine games this season away from home after the impact of the Commonwealth Games’ rugby sevens on the CBS Arena pitch.
As the games in hand piled up, they were bottom of the table in October and still in the relegation zone as November rolled around. But it’s been an sublime run since then, losing just once in their final 17 matches before stunning heavily-favoured Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
"We are one sport away from attaining a dream and altering the membership's future in a short time," said Robins.
"This season has been distinctive by way of the beginning we had been handed and all of the effectively documented points that we had.
"The fact I remained in post when others didn't. Bottom of the league in October, it's generally unacceptable.
"That's been one thing you look again on and say, 'OK, that might have occurred however it did not'.
"We managed to navigate our way through a really difficult period and come out the other side.
"The supporters understood the scenario and actually backed it, and with out them it would not have occurred.
"That's why it makes it so special because, for me, the biggest achievement since I came through the door is the reconnection between players and supporters and long may that continue."
Luton are out to earn a fourth promotion in 10 seasons right this moment, having recovered remarkably from slipping out of the Football League altogether in 2009 after that heavy factors deduction and doubts over their future after which taken 5 years to lastly bounce again.
Rob Edwards has carried on the tremendous work performed first by John Still after which after all Nathan Jones, who could also be severely regretting that call to leap ship for a disastrous short-lived spell within the Premier League with Southampton in November.
It’s been a wierd flip of occasions for Edwards, who was poached by Watford after main Forest Green Rovers to promotion from League Two final season, solely to be dumped unceremoniously after 10 video games after which rapidly main their fiercest rivals all the way in which to Wembley. Watford, in the meantime, completed the season in eleventh.
“Everyone around this club and who is connected to this club, it means so much, to come from where it was to bring it back, there’s a lot of love there, it’s more than just football, it’s people’s lives,” Edwards mentioned this week.
"We will have 36,000 or so people behind us so I feel we will be supported even more, I know Coventry will have the same but it will make for a great atmosphere.
"So far this season the lads have risen to those huge video games and events, it is introduced the very best out of them and final week (win over Sunderland) is the very best instance of that. Watford and Sheffield United away too, however hopefully yet one more and we will carry out within the largest sport of all of them.
"Hopefully (there will be) the feelgood factor and they (the fans) will have a day out, they'll hopefully have their best singing voices on and get into the mood.
"Numerous it will likely be all the way down to our efficiency I suppose and the way it goes on the day through the sport with objectives and that form of stuff, what is going to swing the ambiance a method or one other I'm positive."
As recently as 2018, Coventry versus Luton was a League Two fixture, writes Dom Smith.
Today, the sides will face off in the most lucrative game in English football, worth £100million-plus to the winner.
The teams have punched well above their weight to reach the play-off final at Wembley.
Luton vanquished Sunderland in the semi-final to put themselves on the brink of a return to the top flight only nine years after they escaped non-League football by winning the Conference Premier.
Coventry were bottom of the Championship table as recently as October 18, having been forced to postpone four home games at the beginning of the season as the CBS Arena hosted judo, wrestling and rugby sevens at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Games in hand were piling up for Mark Robins’s side and their play-off tilt had yet to take off. December then saw the stadium’s latest owner — a certain Mike Ashley — threaten the club with an eviction notice, only to eventually extend their tenancy deal to five years last month.
Read the preview in full here
The early scene in and around the home of English football, where nerves will already be jangling during that famous walk down Wembley way!
Couldn’t ask for better weather...
It’s third facing fifth in Championship terms, so you would expect Luton to have the edge but the bookies are backing Coventry as slight favourites, spearheaded by perhaps the best player outside the Premier League in Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres.
Wembley should be treated to a close game between two direct sides, with one goal likely settling it. These two teams don’t concede many, but aren’t prolific scorers either. It will be tense!
Luton to win 1-0, after extra time.
Luton have almost an entirely clean bill of health for today’s huge game at Wembley.
Midfielder Alfie Doughty shook off a fitness scare to play the full 90 minutes of the rousing 2-0 win over Sunderland at Kenilworth Road that sent the Hatters to within one game of the Premier League.
However, Rob Edwards will be without the services of striker Cauley Woodrow, who has not managed to overcome a knee problem that has kept him sidelined since the 1-1 draw at relegated Reading on April 19.
The key team news from a Coventry perspective is that influential Brazilian-born Dutch midfielder Gustavo Hamer has shrugged off a knee injury to be fit to play this afternoon.
He of course scored that memorable winner in the semi-final second-leg upset of Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium last week.
Callum O’Hare and Fabio Tavares remain long-term absentees for the Sky Blues, while Kasey Palmer has been working on his fitness after a hamstring injury.
Striker Tyler Walker also remains doubtful.
TV channel: In the UK, right this moment’s sport will probably be televised dwell on Sky Sports, with protection starting at 4pm BST on Sky Sports Football and 4:30pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
Live stream: Subscribers may also catch the competition dwell on-line through the Sky Go app.
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