Championship play-off final preview: Crystal Palace vs Watford

Crystal Palace and Watford go head-to-head at Wembley to decide who wins the Premier League promotion.

After narrowly missing out on automatic promotion Zola’s men will be desperate to outplay resilient Crystal Palace, led by United loanee Wilfried Zaha. Watford secured a victory over Leicester in remarkable fashion in Championship play-off semi-final, as Almunia saved Anthony Knockaert’s last-minute penalty, while Troy Deeney scored the match-winning goal to bring Watford 3-2 aggregate success.

Meanwhile Palace, who have finished in the fifth spot, beat arch rivals Brighton in semi-final, with Zaha scoring a brace in second leg victory.

Crystal Palace team news:

Palace have received a huge boost with the news their winger Zaha will be fit to take part in the upcoming final after recovering from an ankle injury.

Glenn Murray is sidelined with a cruciate injury, while Stephen Dobbie has returned to his parent club after his loan expired, so Aaron Wilbraham will start up front.

Skipper Paddy McCarthy will definitely miss the final due to groin injury, with centre-back Jonathan Parr remaining on team’s long-term injury list.

Watford team news:

There are no serious injury concerns for Zola, with the Italian expected to stick to the winning side that outplayed Leicester.

Zola is set to partner forward Troy Deeney with Championship player of the year Matej Vydra up front.