Southampton vs Hull prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2024-02-19 19:45.
In a performance their manager Russell Martin described as the “best win” of their season, Southampton won 2-0 against West Bromwich Albion on Friday to bounce back from a 3-1 loss to Bristol City earlier last week. The Saints could now leapfrog Leeds into the automatic promotion places with a win over play-off hopefuls Hull City, a team they defeated 2-1 earlier in the season for their ninth win across the last 12 league H2Hs (D1, L2).
Extending that record with a win looks a strong possibility, judging by Southampton’s recent home form which has seen them win their last 11 competitive games at St. Mary’s! It puts them in a position to win ten consecutive home league games for the first time since November 2011 and, most crucially, aid their automatic promotion push.
Hull could be well placed to spoil the party after they kept their own play-off ambitions alive with a 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday, courtesy of a Jacob Greaves stoppage time winner that left boss Liam Rosenior “proud.” With the race for the last two play-off berths proving to be a tight battle between five teams separated by just three points, the Tigers could do themselves a favour by winning here and climbing as high as fifth depending on West Brom’s result.
Their uptick in recent form includes three consecutive away Championship wins, but extending it to four would need them to correct some unwanted history. The visitors have failed to win any of their last 14 league visits to Southampton (D6, L8) since their last such victory here in February 1951, but there couldn’t be a more opportune time to end that rut than in the midst of a tight play-off race.
Players to watch: Will Smallbone scored Southampton’s opening goal in the reverse fixture and his four league goals this season have all come in the first half of a victory. A goal from Ozan Tufan could signal a high scoring affair, as four of his five scoring games in the league this season saw him net the third goal of the match.
Hot stat: Hull have won six of their ten Championship away games as the pre-match underdogs (D3, L1).