Middlesbrough vs Hull prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-12 20:00.
Approximately 28,000 fans braved the torrential rain on Teesside to watch Middlesbrough lose 2-0 to Ipswich at the weekend, with Michael Carrick crediting the opposition while praising his players’ “effort and attitude”. That was probably a fair assessment of his team given they had a wealth of regular starters missing through suspension or injury, yet they still remain within three points of the top six despite losing three of the last four games.
It really has been all or nothing for Boro here at the Riverside since September, but playing at home is more often than not beneficial for the club (W5, L3). The visit of Hull City could come at an opportune time then, as Middlesbrough are on the cusp of recording three straight league victories over the Tigers for the very first time in this fixture’s 102-year history.
While Hull sit three points above their Yorkshire rivals, they too come into this on the back of consecutive league defeats, but head coach Liam Rosenior remains optimistic in the face of adversity, stating that “everything else will fall into place” if they can perform to their recent levels in spite of the results. They may need an extra gear here though, as despite being a relatively short drive north, Hull have lost 20 of the last 24 away league H2Hs (W2, D2).
That record isn’t offset by Hull’s return across their last six matches on their travels (W1, D2, L3), five of which saw them concede at least twice. Even with that recent downturn, only five Championship sides had accrued more points on the road than Hull’s 14 ahead of this round (W4, D2, L4), so only the brave would write them off against an injury-hit Boro.
Players to watch: Emmanuel Latte Lath jointly leads the way with two other Middlesbrough players on four Championship goals this season, yet three of those strikes came in defeats. With Hull’s leading league marksman Jaden Philogene (G6) set to miss this clash after limping off at the weekend, a significant amount of the scoring burden may fall on the shoulders of former Boro man Aaron Connolly (G5), yet only one of those strikes was a winner.
Hot stat: Only two sides have conceded more first-half Championship goals than Middlesbrough’s 18 this campaign.