PR: Hull City vs Middlesbrough

At the time of writing, Andy Dawson will take charge on Tuesday evening. Former Tiger Liam Rosenior is waiting in the wings to take over as manager but for the time being, Daws will continue. And after Saturday’s setback vs high-flying Blackburn Rovers, struggling Boro could prove the perfect opponent for him to return to winning ways.

Middlesbrough have their own rookie coach in charge, with former Man Utd and England midfielder Michael Carrick taking the reins a week ago. He lost his 1st game in charge against Preston last time out, a result which sees his side outside of the relegation places only on goal difference and trailing City by 3 points. The league table may not be the best judge of things, however, as mentioned, Liam Rosenior is the favourite to be named the next manager and his decent performance at Derby is one of the reasons that many are optimistic about our prospects if he does take over. Derby County: 7th in League One and 10 points behind 3rd place. Hull City: 18th in the Championship and 10 points behind 3rd place. This is the league where the 2nd place team have lost as many games this season as the bottom side.

If you believe in former players coming back to haunt their old sides, then it might be worth a couple of quid on Chuba Akpom to score. The former Arsenal man scored 3 times in 36 for the Tigers on loan back in 2015-16 but has 5 in 10 this season so far for Boro. Markus Forss is also on their books, although his 1 in 9 this year is more in line with the 1 in 11 he got for us on loan last season.

The availability of Fleming and possibly Elder will surely mean Jacob Greaves returns to centre back. Dawson has preferred to keep a settled side in his matches in charge so far, but midweek matches often lead to rotation, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of Oscar and Tufan return to the starting line-up. After the under-21s continued to impress by trouncing Burnley 6-0 away today, it’d be nice to see the likes of Simms or Vale (who both scored in that win) given a chance off the bench.

Prediction: Hull City 2 – 1 Middlesbrough
Possible lineup: Baxter, Christie, Figs, Greaves, Fleming, Slater, Docherty, Tufan, Pelkas, Longman, Oscar.

Preview from James Harrison in partnership with Hull City OSC.