Middlesbrough vs Hull prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-04-18 19:00.
Middlesbrough kept their fading automatic promotion hopes alive as they notched their second five-goal haul of the season in a resounding 5-1 victory over Norwich last Friday. That result ensured that no side has scored more than Boro’s 60 goals since Michael Carrick’s appointment back in October, and that’s a distant league-best ahead of the round, 11 more than promoted Burnley!
Another game under the lights on the banks of the River Tees can only be a positive as Boro have won seven of their last nine outings at the Riverside Stadium (W7, D1, L1). Despite all the positives, Middlesbrough will do well not to underestimate a Hull City side that they’ve failed to beat in four of the last five H2H encounters, albeit that sole victory was a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture.
With safety assured and no promotion prospects, Hull haven’t quite got their vacation sandals on just yet as they showed when holding play-off chasing Blackburn to a goalless draw last time out. Liam Rosenior’s Tigers have proven incredibly tough to break down of late, losing just one of their last eight league games (W2, D5, L1) and that was against none other than runaway league leaders, Burnley.
That solid run can also be seen in Hull’s away games, where they’ve drawn four consecutive Championship road trips for the first time in the modern EFL era. That run could well come to an end here though as all but one of the last nine H2Hs held on Teesside saw a winner (HUL: W2, D1, L6).
Players to watch: Chuba Akpom scored his 22nd goal at the Riverside Stadium last time out for Boro, levelling Scott McDonald’s record whilst also equalling the Championship record for consecutive home scoring appearances (eight)! Hull have only scored two more goals than Akpom across the last eight rounds (G10), although Regan Slater had a hand in four of those strikes (G2, A2).
Hot stat: Hull have won four of their last five away league games played on a Wednesday, three of which came with clean sheets.