EFL play-off semi-final moved due to fixture clash with Premier League club 120 miles away
AN EFL play-off semi-final has had its date changed due to a fixture clash with a Premier League game.
The top-flight affair takes place 120 miles north of the play-off match, but the Premier League has taken priority in the scheduling pecking order.
The EFL clubs in question are Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton Athletic, with the pair set to meet in the League One promotion lottery.
Wycombe will host the first leg at Adams Park, and were supposed to kick off at 7.45pm on Saturday. May 10, but that has since been changed.
The reason for that is that Nottingham Forest play east Midlands rivals Leicester City the day after and crucially, Forest’s city rivals Notts County are set to face AFC Wimbledon in the League Two play-offs that same day.
Both games were scheduled for the same day in Nottingham, and as a result, County’s game – which was supposed to kick off at 6.30pm on Sunday, May 11 – has now been moved to the Saturday, swapping with Wycombe’s clash with Charlton.
As such, Mike Dodds’ side will now take the 6.30pm kick-off on Sunday, with Notts to face Wimbledon on Saturday evening at 8pm at Meadow Lane.
Forest kick off against Leicester at 2.15pm on Sunday at the City Ground as they look to turn around their lapse in form in their hunt for Champions League qualification.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side fell out of the top five in the Premier League table with home defeats by Manchester City and Brentford, and they were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace on Monday night.
They sit sixth with three games to play, two points off fifth-placed Chelsea, who beat champions Liverpool 3-1 on Sunday.
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It will be the first time ever that the Chairboys and the Addicks have played each other in play-offs.
Nathan Jones‘ south east Londoners did the double over the Buckinghamshire side in the regular season, thrashing them 4-0 at Adams Park in the third-last game of the campaign.
At The Valley, they scraped a 2-1 victory thanks to a double from Miles Leaburn.