Championship set for thrilling finish

GET SET FOR A R24-MILLION SOCCER 13 POOL THIS SATURDAY

There are chances galore to win mountains of cash in TAB soccer pools this Easter Weekend, none more so than in Saturday’s Soccer 13 which carries a guaranteed pool of R24 million!

There are also cash-added Soccer 6, 10 and Any 13 Xtra pools on the same day so be sure to head to your nearest TAB and take a bet. The long weekend kicks off with a feast of English Championship football on Good Friday and the chase to secure lucrative slots in the English Premier League next season is turning into a thrilling affair.

There are two automatic promotion spots and then the sides from third to sixth go into playoffs for the other berth.

Leicester, relegated last season, have led almost from the start of this campaign, but experienced an unexpected blip a few weeks ago that saw their runaway lead slashed. So much so that Leeds United are now top, but that’s on goal difference only and City have a game in hand.

Leeds and Leicester were both relegated from the EPL in 202223, but with the parachute payments for clubs relegated from the top flight, they have been able to maintain much stronger squads than most of the other clubs in the league.

Southampton were the other relegated side last season and they too are in the mix, having gone on a club-record 25-game unbeaten run in all competitions. That was ended in February by Bristol City and since then they have slipped to fourth spot, but are still set to make it into the playoffs.

Ipswich are the surprise package. They came up from League One as runners-up last season and have kept on going, spending most of the campaign in second spot behind Leicester. Now they sit third and only one point behind Leeds and Leicester going into tomorrow’s full programme of fixtures.

Saturday sees Mamelodi Sundowns continue to wave the South African flag as the lone competitor left in continental club competition.

They are in Dar-es-Salaam for the first leg of their African Champions League quarter-final against Young Africans of Tanzania and must overcome a long history of doing well in the group phase, only to flop in the knockout stages.

Two seasons ago Sundowns were bundled out in the last eight after a shock defeat against Angola’s Petro Atletico. And last year they narrowly lost out on a place in the final when Wydad Casablanca of Morocco edged them on the away-goals rule in the semi-finals.

This must surely be their year, but do not be surprised if they shoot themselves in the foot again because they will face an intimidating atmosphere in Tanzania this weekend.

Their absence should allow second-placed Orlando Pirates to close the gap on them in the league if only temporarily. But that said there’s no guarantee Pirates will win away at Sekhukhune United on Saturday night