Nott'm Forest v Swansea

The Championship play-offs get off and running on Thursday night when sixth placed Nott’m Forest host third placed Swansea City. Both teams can boast fine ends to the regular season; the hosts won five of their final six matches to arrest their slide down the table while the Welsh side took maximum points from their final three outings. It’s a tough first leg to call, but the Swans have in their ranks a pacy 24-goal striker who is well priced in the first goalscorer market. Forest are favourites to win the home leg, so Scott Sinclair finds himself slightly down the pecking order at a tempting 7/1 to strike first with WilliamHill.

This season Sinclair has been prolific compared to all of his Forest counterparts. McCugan is leading marksman in the home ranks with 13, and nobody else has claimed more than eight during the campaign. With 19 goals in Championship games alone, Sinclair has more than double the total of any of his own team-mates as well. On a tense occasion, such as a play-off semi-final, being the club’s penalty taker only adds value to our punt.

So are Swansea a good bet to score first as the away side? Well, let’s not forget that they have looked superior to their Midlands opponents for large parts of the second half of the season, and finished only four points off automatic promotion. Forest certainly finished strongly, but their fixture list was ultimately kind in the run-in. Doubts must still remain as to how Billy Davies’ side will fare against the top sides in the division. The Reds lost to Norwich, Reading, Leeds and Swansea in the last two months, defeating none of the top seven in that time.

On the other hand, Swansea showed their credentials as a play-off force by not only beating Forest, but also thumping Norwich 3-0 in April. The 2-0 win at Millwall in their final away game also showed great character. The Welsh side are deservedly favourites to reach Wembley, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t make their mark at the City Ground. Forest carry with them the demons of three horrific play-off experiences from their recent past, including only last season, in defeat to Blackpool at this stage. Scott Sinclair is plenty capable of adding to their woes, as first goalscorer, at 7/1.