Leeds vs. Southampton: Live broadcast, stream link, team news

Leeds United and Southampton meet at Wembley Stadium on Sunday in the “richest game in the world” as the two teams aim for an immediate return to the Premier League.

But only one will achieve his season goal.

Daniel Farke took charge of Leeds last summer when the squad was in disarray and many players left either permanently or on loan following an unexpected and chaotic relegation from the Premier League. But Farke, who has twice been promoted from the Championship with Norwich City, has used all his experience to turn them into a no-nonsense, hard-pressing team that narrowly failed in their quest for automatic promotion. Leeds' 90 points this season would have given them automatic promotion in most seasons, but Leicester City and Ipswich Town blew everyone away.

Russell Martin's Southampton finished fourth in the table, just three points behind Leeds, and the Saints beat Leeds home and away in the regular season. Martin briefly played for Farke at Norwich City and there is great respect between these two teams. Southampton have completely switched their style of play to possession football and have a mix of players left over from their last few years in the Premier League and numerous loan players who have brought them to the brink of a return to the top flight.

The championship was a mini-league all season, with the top four outperforming the rest by far. Now the playoff final is between the two who missed out on automatic promotion and these two are so evenly matched. All of this should lead to an epic Championship play-off final at Wembley as both teams are desperate to go top at the first attempt.

Here's how to watch Leeds vs Southampton in the Championship play-off final live

Date: Sunday (May 26th)
Begin: 10 a.m. ET
Here's how to watch in the US: ESPN+

Leeds United team news, focus

Leeds have developed into a resilient, intense team over the course of the season and Farke has made extremely good use of the brilliant attacking talents of Georginio Rutter, Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto and Joel Piroe. In recent weeks they have been missing the injured Patrick Bamford (he could be on the bench in the final) as a key player up front, but that was not to be seen against Norwich as Leeds cruised past them in the semi-final second leg. On the other hand, Illan Meslier kept making great saves in goal, while Ethan Ampadu was a rock in central defense and Gruev and Gray gave this team so much energy. Pascal Struijk remains injured after groin surgery, while right-back Sam Byram suffered hip flexor problems and was unable to play in the second leg against Norwich.

Southampton team news, focus

The Saints are missing goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu after he suffered an Achilles tendon injury in April, and playmaker Stuart Armstrong suffered a serious hamstring injury towards the end of the season and will not feature. Strikers Che Adams and Ross Stewart are battling for fitness. If they are not fit, it is safe to assume that Southampton will start with a flexible front three of Adam Armstrong, Ryan Fraser and David Brooks; Brooks shone in the second leg win of the playoff semi-final against West Brom. Flynn Downes in central midfield is the heart of this Southampton team and their flexible 4-4-3 formation often becomes a 3-4-2-1 when in possession, allowing Joe Aribo and Brooks to get to the ball as often as possible . Thanks to the starting lineup with three central defenders, they have also become more solid defensively in recent weeks.