Two teams in the top 10 of the Sky Bet Championship table open up the latest weekend of action on Friday night when the attention is on the MKM Stadium as Hull City play host to high flying Middlesbrough under the lights.
Hull begin the night outside the play-off places but a win will move them up to third ahead of the remainder of the weekend while Middlesbrough will be looking for a victory which will pull them further clear of the chasing pack for second spot.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and the Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off on Humberside.
Hull City
Having narrowly missed out on the play-offs two seasons ago before having a campaign to forget last term, Hull City look like they are heading in the right direction again as they find themselves inside the top 10 in the table as we get closer to the halfway point of the season. That is a huge jump from last term where they were favourites to be relegated going into the last day but they are in position where they can start to look up rather than over their shoulders.
The Tigers have eight wins on their ledger this season, five of which have come at home so they look a lot more comfortable playing on home soil which bodes well for them here. Only Coventry have scored more goals than Hull City in the Championship so far this term but at the other end of the table only rock bottom Sheffield Wednesday have conceded more goals than them so they will be looking to do something about that as soon as they can.
Middlesbrough
It is not just Hull City who are much improved this season, Middlesbrough have gone from a team who made the play-offs three seasons ago only to narrowly miss out on them in the following two campaigns to a side who are hoping to avoid the end of season lottery for a completely different reason this time around as they sit second in the table and have been the most consistent side in the division with the exception of runaway leaders Coventry City.
Only Coventry have lost fewer matches than Middlesbrough in the Championship this season so they have made themselves very hard to beat, although whether that is about to change having been forced to transition to a different manager after the departure of Rob Edwards to Wolves recently. Kim Hellberg has taken over now and you would imagine he will put his own identity on the side but Boro head into the contest having beaten Derby last time out so they will carry some confidence with them.
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Team News
Hull City are hoping to have their top scorer Oli McBurnie back for this match after the forward has been out with injury. Liam Millar is another who could return to the squad here but Cody Drameh will miss out once again.
Middlesbrough are having to endure something of a defensive shortage at the minute with Dael Fry, George Edmundson, Luke Ayling and Daragh Lenihan all either injured or only just recovering from an injury. Aidan Morris faces a fitness test.
Betting
When it comes to Hull City matches it has generally been a good idea to expect goals this season and that is the angle that I am going to come at this one with. Hull City are tied with Coventry in the Championship for the most matches that have had over 2.5 goals in them with 13 of them as opposed to five that have gone under. Middlesbrough are 9-9 for that statistic so with the right dance partner they can come up with the goal goods as well.
Over 2.5 goals is a little on the short side but if you marry it up with both teams to score then you get an appealing odds against punt. Four of the last five Hull City matches would have cashed this bet and 12 of their 18 in total, while three of the last four Middlesbrough games have landed it and seven in all while Boro have drawn four matches 1-1 so there is plenty of evidence to suggest that both teams will score in this one and based on the Hull over 2.5 record, over 2.5 and BTTS appeals here.
Tips
Back Over 2.5 goals and BTTS for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with William Hill
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