The Super League returns after the break for the Challenge Cup on Thursday night and it does so with two teams who have made good starts to the season looking to enhance their opening to the campaign when the Wigan Warriors host Hull FC at the DW Stadium.
The Warriors have won five of their opening six matches whereas Hull FC have picked up four wins from their first six. They both won in the Challenge Cup last week so we have a couple of form teams on show here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on both the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena channels. The lead up to the action will begin at 7.30pm with the match kicking off at 8pm.
Wigan Warriors
After a really positive beginning to the season the Wigan Warriors are already seeing expectations raised for the remainder of the campaign. Their only defeat in six matches so far this season has been away to the Catalans Dragons which is never an easy place to go at any time. In the other matches they have won fairly comfortably with the most important facet of those wins being that they have been able to score a decent number of points.
That was the issue they had last season. I think it is fair to say that their focus on being stronger offensively has come at a slight detriment to their defence but the trade-off is winning matches with plenty more to spare so I certainly don’t see that as a bad thing. Wigan will need to defend well here though because this is a Hull FC side who can come at you from all angles, but all of a sudden there are a number of line breakers across the pitch for the Warriors which makes them dangerous.
Hull FC
It has been a little more of an up and down start to the season for Hull FC but given the turnover in personnel from last term to this one I think they will be happy with four wins from six, even more so when you consider the injuries they have had to deal with. One of those defeats were against the champions St Helens who look rampant at the minute so effectively they have lost just one of the matches they were expected to be competitive in.
This will be a decent test of where they are though. The Black and Whites had an absolute romp in the Challenge Cup at the weekend which will be beneficial to them here because it means that they should have plenty in the tank to go at Wigan. They know they will need to score points and if they can do that they will be competitive. If Hull FC want to be in and around the race to Old Trafford then they need to prove they can win these big matches against top six rivals.
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Team News
Both teams get influential players back for this match. Wigan Warriors will have Bevan French available for the first time in 10 months in this one. Iain Thornley is another who returns to the squad but Kai Pearce-Paul will miss a lengthy period of time.
Hull FC have their captain Luke Gale back in their ranks for this one. He has been missing since his red card in the loss to St Helens in the second game of the season but he has been training hard and is said to be chomping at the bit to come back. Josh Reynolds remains out.
Betting
We are going to see what these two sides are made of in this match. The only top half team either have beaten so far this season are the Huddersfield Giants and when Hull FC beat them the Giants had a man sent off. The rest of their wins have come against teams in the lower reaches of the table and while they have both seen off Leeds Rhinos, they are clearly underperforming at the minute so I think this match will tell us a lot about both teams.
Wigan are being asked to cover between 8-10 points which I sense is about right but a line that can be got at is the total points one. I think there are points in both these teams and the weather looks like it is going to relent enough during game time to keep the action flowing. Hull FC won’t be able to plan with too much certainty as nobody knows where Bevan French is going to play in this match but wherever he plays he’ll be targeted by Luke Gale and his kicking game as he is bound to be rusty. The full-back of both these sides has a potency that can keep a defensive line on its heels and that can lead to the halves having the time and space to pick the holes that run up plenty of points. I like over 38.5pts here.
Tips
Back Over 38.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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