League One Play-Off Final Preview: Charlton v Leyton Orient
Gab Sutton 
Charlton and Leyton Orient meet at Wembley on Sunday as they fight it out for a place in the Championship in the League One Play-Off Final.
Charlton head into the side as favourites with betting sites, having finished the season strongly, but Leyton Orient squeezed past third-placed Stockport to earn their place in the showpiece finale.
Free Bets EFL Gab Sutton looks ahead to the League One Play-Off Final, as Londoners Charlton and Leyton Orient vie for a place in the second-tier
Charlton
Why they will win it
From the day they went into Christmas with an emphatic away 5-0 thumping of Northampton, Charlton have accrued a whopping 61 points from 27 games, dropping points just eight times.
In that timeframe, only runaway leaders Birmingham accumulated more points than the Addicks in the division.
Counter-intuitively, perhaps, it wasn’t really the January business that moved the needle for Nathan Jones’ side, more the return of key right-sided defender Kayne Ramsay from injury, and the form of striker Matty Godden, where the team had previously struggled for firepower.
A subtle formational shift from 3-5-2 to a flexible 4-2-3-1 (that can convert into a 3-4-1-2) has proved the key to getting the most out of this squad, and if Charlton play as they have in the second half of the season, they should win.
The South Londoners boast one of the top centre-backs in the league in Lloyd Jones, a strong midfield pairing of conductor Conor Coventry and dynamo Greg Docherty, with Tyreece Campbell and Thierry Small bringing pace and flair out wide.
Why they might not
Charlton struggled to create chances against Wycombe, across the two legs, with the only goal coming late on from Godden, pouncing on an opposition error.
In the number 10 role, Alex Gilbert is highly talented but he doesn’t get into the box much – just the two touches from him in the 18-yard area in the 2nd leg – which can put pressure on others to break in from deeper and/or wider positions to support Godden and Campbell.
Plus, if left-back Josh Edwards gets caught high up the pitch, the thought of Dan Agyei running at Macaulay Gillesphey seems ominous.
And, while Nathan Jones’ passion can manifest itself as a strength, a way of getting those extra ounces of energy out of his players and keep the standards high, like a lower league Antonio Conte, it could become a weakness.
Even if the Welshman doesn’t purposefully play to the camera, his dramatics can create a side-show that may serve as a distraction from the real task at hand.
And, when Charlton scored two injury-time goals at Orient in February to snatch an undeserved win from the jaws of defeat, it made Jones a pantomime villain among home fans; they’ll be desperate for that villain to get his just deserts in the finale.
Leyton Orient
Why they will win it
Leyton Orient have done extremely well to get to the 78 points they needed to secure a top six League One berth, having begun with 14 points from their first 14 league games, when encouraging performances went unrewarded.
With 64 points from the next 32, the O’s averaged a remarkable 2 PPG for two thirds of a campaign, an astonishing effort from all involved.
In goalkeeper Josh Keeley and withdrawn forward Jamie Donley, both on loan from Tottenham, plus midfielder Ethan Galbraith, whom boss Richie Wellens believes to be one of the best in League One, Orient have star quality – and that’s before we get to League One’s top goalscorer in Charlie Kelman!
Keeley has recorded 18 clean sheets this season, Donley is a delightfully deft, left-footed technician, Galbraith can do a bit of everything – and may yet have long-term Premier League potential – and Kelman has 23 goals for the season.
Why they might not
Orient were arguably fortunate to have gone to Edgeley Park without a deficit, having drawn 2-2 in the 1st leg, with opponents Stockport having controlled long periods of that game: the Semi-Final tie could very easily have gone the other way.
There’s also a possibility that, if Galbraith plays at right-back, he’ll be keen to show his qualities going forward, which may leave the O’s open to a scenario in which Tyreece Campbell is running at Omar Beckles – a pace mismatch that could fashion chances for Matty Godden.
Although, Wellens might argue his side can mitigate that danger through Jordan Brown’s tireless work ethic at the base of midfield, on the right of the double-pivot – alternatively, it could be three at the back.
Plus, while Orient have a great XI, their bench isn’t exactly oozing with likely game-changers.
Verdict
It should be an exciting game with plenty of quality on show, but in the end Charlton will be the ones to join Birmingham and Wrexham in the Championship next season.
