Why Sheffield United v Sunderland kicks off at 3.01pm as Burnley and Leeds United await play-off winners
Either Sheffield United or Sunderland will join Burnley and Leeds United in the Premier League next year.
The sides that finished the regular season in third and fourth place respectively will do battle at Wembley tomorrow in the Championship play-off final.
The Blades breezed past Bristol City in their two-legged semi-final, cruising to a record aggregate win of 6-0.
Sunderland, meanwhile, found it tougher going as they needed a dramatic 123rd-minute extra-time header from Dan Ballard to squeeze past Coventry City to win 3-2 over the two legs.
Chris Wilder’s side are the favourites with the bookies, having finished the season on 90 points, a whole 14 points clear of the Black Cats.
Head to head, the two promotion rivals claimed a victory apiece. Sunderland claimed the spoils with a 2-1 win in the most recent game at the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day. Sheffield United won 1-0 at Bramall Lane back in November, however.
You might have noticed that Saturday’s Wembley final kicks off at the unusual time of 3.01pm.
This is to support the 'Every Minute Matters' campaign to inspire supporters to learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), equipping them with vital skills that could help them save someone's life.
Former Blades midfielder Vinnie Jones will be joined by Luton Town defender Tom Lockyer and the British Heart Foundation’s Senior Programme Manager Lizzie Moscardini on the Wembley pitch for what is described as an ‘unprecedented CPR demo’ that will take place in front of a crowd of over 80,000 supporters and will be shown on screens around the home of football.
The move comes almost two years to the day after Lockyer collapsed on the Wembley pitch during the Hatters’ play-off final win against Coventry City and then suffered a cardiac arrest during his side’s Premier League home game with Bournemouth just over six months later.
The kick-off time of 3.01pm will symbolise the importance of every minute when it comes to saving lives as the chances of survival decreases by 10 percent without the use of effective CPR or defibrillation.