A 15th placed Middlesbrough side will be welcoming 18th placed Hull City at the Riverside Stadium in what will be the last match of the of the weekend. The Teesiders will be mighty frustrated with the fact that they could not hold on to a vital win against struggling Leicester City after conceding a last minute penalty and would want a win against the relegation-threatened Tigers.
Hull, on the other hand, will like to believe that Middlesbrough are a team whom they can defeat and failure to do so will raise serious questions about their ability to sustain their Premier League status.
MATCH TRIVIA
-These two teams have met just twice in the Premier League, where they shared a victory each in the 2008/09 season.
– Hull have won two of their last three league meetings with Middlesbrough; as many as they had won in their previous 13 beforehand (D4 L7).
– Alvaro Negredo scored on his only previous Premier League appearance against Hull City in August 2013 for Manchester City.
– Negredo has been directly involved in six Premier League goals this season (three goals, three assists); more than any other Middlesbrough player.
– After winning his first two games in charge against Leicester and Swansea, Mike Phelan has overseen just one win in the last 11 Premier League contests (D2 L8).
– Hull City have never won a Premier League game played on a Monday (W0 D3 L4), while Middlesbrough have won five of their last seven Monday PL clashes at the Riverside (L2).
TEAM NEWS
MIDDLESBROUGH
Aitor Karanka has no new injuries to fret about with only George Friend missing in action ever since injuring his knee in the warm-up before last month’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
Daniel Ayala is pushing to return after his recent ankle injury but Brazilian Fabio is expected to retain his place in the starting line-up in Friend’s continued absence.
HULL CITY
Hull midfielders Ryan Mason and Sam Clucas are back in contention for tomorrow’s match. Mason missed Tuesday night’s EFL Cup penalty shootout win against Newcastle due to illness and Clucas served a one-game ban.
Striker Dieumerci Mbokani starts a three-game suspension following his midweek dismissal but Abel Hernandez (groin) and midfielder Shaun Maloney (back) have a slight chance of featuring.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
MIDDLESBROUGH (4-2-3-1)
Valdes; Barragan, Chambers, Gibson, Fabio; Forshaw, De Roon; Downing, Ramirez, Traore; Negredo
HULL CITY (4-3-3)
Marshall; Robertson, Davies, Dawson, Elmohamady; Clucas, Livermore, Meyler; Diomande, Hernandez, Snodgrass
BETTING ODDS
MIDDLESBROUGH- 4/5
DRAW- 13/5
HULL CITY- 19/20
