Ahead of the Sky Bet League One Play-Off Semi-Final first legs, here are all the key stats and facts you need to know...
Peterborough United v Sheffield Wednesday
- Peterborough are unbeaten in their last five home matches against Sheffield Wednesday (W3 D2), winning each of the last three in a row, including a 2-0 win earlier this season in August.
- Across the two meetings between Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday in League One this season (one win each), both teams recorded six shots on target and had an almost identical expected goals total, based on the quality of goal-scoring opportunities they created (1.29 for Sheffield Wednesday and 1.28 for Peterborough).
- This is Sheffield Wednesday’s fifth play-off campaign – after winning promotion in their first in 2004-05 in League One, they’ve failed to get promoted in their last three (2015-16, 2016-17 in the Championship, 2021-22 in League One).
- Peterborough have won promotion in three of their previous four play-off campaigns in the Football League (1992, 2000 and 2011), however they were eliminated in the semi-finals in their most recent one in 2014 – a 3-2 aggregate loss against Leyton Orient in the third tier, which came under current manager Darren Ferguson.
- Jonson Clarke-Harris has been directly involved in 30 league goals for Peterborough this season (26 goals and four assists), which is at least twice as many as any of his teammates in 2022-23 (15 for Joe Ward and Ephron Mason-Clark).
- Barry Bannan has assisted 13 league goals for Sheffield Wednesday this season, with only Leif Davis (14) providing more in League One in 2022-23. Indeed, Bannan (127) was one of only two players to create 100+ chances in the competition during the regular season, along with Davis (132).
Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley
- This will be the fourth meeting between Bolton and Barnsley in 2022-23, with both sides only losing one of the previous three (W1 D1). Their last meeting came in January in a 3-0 away win for Bolton, with that being Barnsley’s joint-heaviest home defeat of the season.
- Barnsley have only won one of their last 16 meetings with Bolton across all competitions (D8 L7), with that lone victory coming in the FA Cup first round earlier this season. Their last win against Bolton outside of cup competitions came in August 1997 in a Premier League match (2-1).
- Barnsley have competed in four previous EFL play-off campaigns – they’ve not won promotion in the two they’ve competed in the second tier (1999-00, 2020-21) but have won promotion in the two in League One (2005-06, 2015-16).
- This is the first time Bolton have been involved in a play-off campaign since the 2000-01 season, when they won promotion to the Premier League under Sam Allardyce. Overall, they have only won promotion from two of their seven total play-off campaigns, doing so in 2000-01 and 1994-95.
- Barnsley boss Michael Duff managed in the League Two play-offs with Cheltenham Town in the 2019-20 season – after winning the first leg 2-0 against Northampton, they lost 3-0 at home in the second leg and were eliminated.
- Dion Charles is Bolton’s top scorer in league competition this season, netting 16 goals overall (11 more than any other Bolton player). However, 10 of Charles’ 16 strikes this term have been scored away from home (63%), with his home record being six goals in 21 appearances.
