Middlesbrough vs Hull City predictions: Boro to dominate troubled Tigers
- Hull sacked boss Tim Walter on Wednesday
- Middlesbrough are sixth in the table, eight points behind leaders Leeds
- Recommended bet: Middlesbrough/Middlesbrough in Half Time/Full Time
Middlesbrough are expected to respond to their home defeat to Blackburn Rovers by securing a convincing victory over struggling Hull City, who sacked head coach Tim Walter on Wednesday.
Tigers owner Acun Ilicali decided after Tuesday's 2-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, which extended their run without a win to nine games, that it was time to relieve Walter of his duties, with Andy Dawson placed in caretaker charge for the trip to Teesside.
Team news
Boro boss Michael Carrick is likely to be without at least seven players, as Seny Dieng, Darragh Lenihan, Rav van den Berg, Aidan Morris, Hayden Hackney, Lukas Engel and Delano Burgzorg are still struggling with injury.
Riley McGree is a fresh fitness doubt for the hosts, while Finn Azaz will be given a late test.
Hull are without Oscar Zambrano, who is suspended, while Liam Millar, Mohamed Belloumi, Steven Alzate and Carl Rushworth are all set to miss out again due to injury.
The stats
Before losing to Blackburn, Middlesbrough had won three on the spin, scoring 15 goals.
Boro were in front at half-time in all of those victories.
Emmanuel Latte Lath has scored seven league goals for the Teessiders this season, five of which have come in his last four games.
Hull have lost their last four in the Championship, scoring just one goal.
In three of those defeats, the Tigers were behind at the break.
Prediction
Middlesbrough were making headlines for all the right reasons during their recent three-game winning run when they hammered QPR 4-1 away, trounced Luton 5-1 at home and embarrassed Oxford, winning 6-2 at the Kassam Stadium.
However, they suffered a setback in midweek when fellow promotion hopefuls Blackburn won 1-0 at the Riverside to leave them two points behind fifth-placed Watford.
Michael Carrick's side have shown enough this season to suggest they can stick around the top six and fight for promotion, even if they are prone to lapses at times.
One such setback came at the start of the month when they lost 3-0 at home to Coventry, but it seems unlikely that there will be a repeat of that shock result when Hull visit.
The Tigers will hope sacking Walter, who only took charge during the summer, will boost their survival hopes and the club say they are conducting a thorough recruitment process for a new permanent boss, having handed the reins temporarily to Dawson.
This is a tough initial test for the first-team coach to take on and Boro should turn in a commanding performance to stay very much in the promotion mix.
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