The Championship play-offs are heating up, and Friday's first-leg clash between Hull City and Millwall promises to be a thriller. These two sides couldn't be more evenly matched, having traded 3-1 away wins during the regular season—setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown.

Hull City punched their ticket to the play-offs in dramatic fashion, coming from behind to beat Norwich City on the final day. Millwall, meanwhile, secured third place with a confident 2-0 victory over Oxford United. The first leg kicks off Friday at 20:00 BST, with the return match in south London set for Monday, 11 May.

History gives Hull a slight edge at home—they've lost just one of their last five home games against Millwall (W3 D1). But that one loss was a painful 3-1 defeat back in March, a result Millwall will be eager to build on. In fact, the Lions haven't won consecutive meetings with Hull since April 2011, so they'll be looking to break that streak.

For Hull, this is their third Championship play-off appearance—and they've won promotion to the Premier League both times before (2007-08 and 2015-16). However, there's a curious stat to note: the team finishing sixth hasn't won the Championship play-offs since Blackpool in 2009-10. Hull finished sixth this season.

Millwall bring their own intriguing history. They've reached the final in each of their last four Football League play-off appearances—all in League One—but have been eliminated in the semi-finals in all three of their second-tier campaigns (1990-91, 1993-94, 2001-02). That's a trend they'll be desperate to reverse.

One key pattern to watch: Hull have won the first leg of their semi-final in all three previous play-off appearances, keeping a clean sheet each time. Millwall, on the other hand, haven't lost a first leg in any of their last six play-off semi-finals (W2 D4), dating back to a 2-0 defeat at Derby in 1993-94. Something's got to give.