Cheltenham are the current 6/4 favourites for promotion having established a 2-0 first-leg lead from their semi-final with Torquay, with Crewe on offer at 2/1 and Southend at 13/5 to triumph at Wembley.

This tie is finely poised with Crewe holding a slender one-goal advantage following the clash at Alexandra Stadium on Saturday with centre-half Adam Dugdale proving perhaps an unlikely matchwinner – heading home Ashley Westwood’s free kick early in the second period.

The betting suggesting that Southend are certainly not out of it, though, with the Shrimpers hosting the second leg on Wednesday as 10/11 match favourites, with the draw priced at 12/5 while Crewe can be backed at 3/1 to make it a double success.

Of course a draw will suffice for the Railwaymen, which places all the pressure on the Blues, especially as they also only missed out on automatic promotion by a solitary point.

There was 11 points separating these two sides in the regular season so a lot may depend on how Paul Sturrock’s men cope with expectation and pressure – and maybe any nervous tension that transmits from the crowd, if the Seasiders fail to get in front early.

Southend do have a decent record at Roots Hall without being spectacular – they suffered five defeats in front of their own fans during the regular season, while they were also held six times.

Crewe went into the play-offs on the back of a 16-match unbeaten run – seven wins and nine draws – with Southend the last team to beat them, winning 1-0 at Roots Hall at the start of February.

Whether much can be read into that is open to question – Southend also won 3-1 at Crewe earlier in the season and look what happened at the weekend – but it is certainly something that Sturrock’s men can take into the game.

Bilel Mohsni scored the winner in this fixture earlier in the season and certainly looked as though he can cause Crewe plenty of problems in the first leg. He can be backed at 6/1 to be the First/Last Goalscorer and 13/8 Anytime, although on-loan signing Freddy Eastwood leads both markets.

However, Crewe have made themselves hard to beat on the road of late and are unbeaten in seven and, although five of those have been in draws, Alex have taken a point from trips to promoted Crawley and fellow play-off contender Torquay.

Steve Davis’s men have tended to spread the goals around this season with Nick Powell leading the scoring markets for Crewe at 6/1 First/last and 13/8 Anytime – perhaps providing a bit more value elsewhere with Byron Moore on offer at 8/1 and 9/4, while first-leg hero Dugdale is available at 33/1 and 10/1.

All the pressure is on Southend for this one but they perhaps enjoyed better success on the road this term, and in-form Crewe can secure the necessary result to book their Wembley date.

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Swansea

The Swans will be mixing it with the big boys for the first time since 1983 and, in beating Reading in the Championship play-off showdown, they become the first-ever Welsh club to make it into the Premier League.

As Blackpool found out 12 months ago, winning at Wembley can provide the platform to give any side the momentum needed to have a real crack at the Premier League.

However,the Seasiders’ attacking, gung-ho approach, which initially worked wonders but ultimately proved to be their downfall, needs to be taken note of by Brendan Rodgers and proves a more measured approach to tackle the top flight is needed.

In Rodgers they have one of the most respected young coaches in the game and he is unlikely to make the same mistakes as Ian Holloway but they will need to make some astute additions to their squad over the summer if they are to hold on to their place after a season back in the big time.

Players with plenty of Premier League experience will have to be drafted in, no doubt on the cheap, to bolster a squad which can be moulded into a hard-to-beat top-flight side. They do have attacking talent in the shape of Nathan Dyer, Stephen Dobbie and Scott Sinclair but more will be needed if they are to stay up.

We envisage a busy summer at the Liberty Stadium as Rodgers prepares a squad for the big test that lies ahead and, while the canny Ulsterman faces his ultimate challenge, we reckon he can succeed where Holloway failed and keep the Swans up.

Verdict: Stay up

Norwich

Paul Lambert has done a superb job at Carrow Road and leading the Canaries to successive promotions is the stuff of dreams for a side regularly part of the top flight in the 90s.

This achievement cannot be underestimated and they are likely to claim a few Premier League scalps in East Anglia next term, such is the vociferous atmosphere the home fans will generate. But a real struggle looks on the cards for Norwich unless serious investment is forthcoming into Lambert’s squad over the summer.

The Scot will have to delve into the free transfer market of released top-flight journeymen to beef up his squad while he will hope the likes of Grant Holt and Andrew Crofts can handle the step up in class. He will also look to bring players in on loan again and persuading Arsenal and Liverpool to give them Henri Lansbury and Dani Pacheco for the season could be key.

Verdict: Relegated

QPR

Rangers romped to the Championship title and then survived a potential points docking to ensure they are back in the Premier League despite a nervous few days at the end to the season.

There is undoubted raw talent in Neil Warnock’s side with the likes of Adel Tarabt and Wayne Routledge but, again, money will need to be pumped into the squad for them to be competitive next season.

Despite having mega-rich owners, Warnock may only be given around £10million to improve his squad over the summer. That should give him scope to find some important players and they have the resources and experience to ensure the club’s long-term plan of establishing themselves in the Premier League can be achieved.

Verdict: Stay up

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- Blackpool

Who’d have thought that at the midway point in the Premier League Blackpool (10/3 to be relegated) would be looking good to secure a top ten finish. The Seasiders were a stupidly short price to go straight back to the Championship before a ball was kicked this season and perhaps with good reason given their build-up to the campaign. Before the arrival of a boatload of new players the Seasiders couldn’t beg, borrow or steal someone to add to their squad.

However, as it turns out, other than DJ Campbell, Ian Holloway had the players he would need already at the club. The likes of Charlie Adam, David Vaughan and Ian Evatt have made the step up to the Premier League with consummate ease. Holloway’s not found himself out of his depth either and his attacking brand of football, while high risk, has been a unanimous success. Who would have thought that Blackpool would do the double over Liverpool or win away at places like Stoke, Sunderland and Newcastle.

While fans at Bloomfield Road have got a little carried away, with talk of Europe emanating from some quarters, they will start to believe that another season in the Premier League is possible. The bookies have also got behind the Tangerines to beat the drop, with Totesport pricing them at 1/5 to avoid a return to the Championship.

Comparisons between West Brom and Blackpool are easy to make, their attractive styles of play are easy on the eye and neither know how to play defensively. However, while Blackpool have had ten different goalscorers this season the Baggies have become increasingly reliant on top scorer Peter Odemwingie. That was in evidence in Saturday’s 3-2 win for the Baggies over Blackpool, the Nigeria international grabbing a brace to secure their first win in six league matches.

However, nothing seems to get Blackpool down and due to the wintery weather which engulfed Bloomfield Road they have as many as two games in hand on some of their fellow strugglers. The Seasiders have the advantage at the moment but with 17 games still to come there is still hope for everyone down at the bottom, a point which brings us nicely on to West Brom.

- West Brom

West Brom (3/1 to be relegated) have been the epitome of a yo-yo side in the last decade. Four times they have been promoted to the Premier League and on two of those occasions they have gone straight back down. The other season saw them pull off the great escape, in no small part thanks to Kevin Campbell (remember him?) and Kieran Richardson. However, their joy only lasted a season and they were unceremoniously sent back down to the Championship the following year.

No matter what they have tried they haven’t managed to establish themselves in the top flight and this season could be no different. The Baggies have arguably achieved as many impressive results as Blackpool this season, the highlight of which was a 3-2 win at Arsenal. However, while Blackpool have managed to maintain their positive start to the season things have gone rapidly downhill for the Baggies.

While Saturday’s win over Blackpool will have lifted some of the gloom at the Hawthorns the coming months will easily be the biggest challenge of Roberto Di Matteo’s short managerial career. West Brom’s cause hasn’t been helped by owner Jeremy Peace deciding to keep a firm grasp on his money belt rather than back Di Matteo this month.

The transfer window could be the deciding factor as to who avoids the drop out of these two sides. While Blackpool have taken the scatter gun approach to the market and should bring in at least two players the arrivals door at the Hawthorns is likely to be gathering dust.

While there are plenty of other clubs who have just as many problems as West Brom the Baggies are starting to slightly resemble a sinking ship. You can never say never but if you had to answer to question of who is the more likely to stay up you’d have to say the Premier League is more likely to be enjoying a day at the seaside rather than in the Black Country this time next year.

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