Blackpool edged Swansea by one point for the final playoff spot and now lead their semifinal with Forest. Pic via Guardian.
With Portsmouth, Burnley, and Hull going down along with Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion assured of promotion, we currently know 19 of the 20 teams that will be in the Premier League next season. The Championship playoffs (between the third through sixth seeds) began today to determine the final team to earn promotion to next year's top flight.
The playoffs are being contested between four teams that have been in the top flight before, though for some, not in a very long time: Nottingham Forest, Blackpool, and Cardiff City (and Leicester!)
Forest's last year in the Premier League was 1998/99. Forest has spent five seasons in the Premier League since it's formation in 1992. They were also the very first team to finish last place in the league's first season. In those five years, Forest defeated Arsenal once, 2-1 at City Ground shortly before Christmas 1996. Of course, if you know your history, you also know that Arsenal wears red because their first set of kits were borrowed from Nottingham Forest.
Ah, but Forest currently trails in their two-leg semifinal with Blackpool, whose run of points in eight of their last nine league fixtures allowed them to pip Swansea City for the final playoff slot. In today's first leg in Blackpool, Forest struck first in the 13th minute, but the Tangerines equalized in the 26th and won the match from the penalty spot in the 56th. Blackpool leads the tie 2-1 with the final leg to be played in Nottingham on Tuesday night. Blackpool was last in the top division of English football in Arsenal's first double season - 1970/71.
The other semifinal tie begins tomorrow as fifth placed Leicester City (out of the Premier League since 2003/04, when they managed a 1-1 draw at home from Arsenal in the Gunners' unbeaten Invincibles season, as Craig Hignett equalized for Leicester in injury time) hosts fourth seed Cardiff City, looking to become the first team in Wales to play in the Premier League. Cardiff was last in the top flight in 1961/62.
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