Hull City vs Coventry predictions: Improving Tigers can show their bite
- Hull have lost just one of their last 14 Championship home games
- Coventry have won only one of their opening five league matches
- Recommended bet: Hull draw no bet
Hull have not looked back since suffering a 2-1 defeat at Norwich on the opening weekend of the Championship season, taking 10 points from their subsequent four outings, and this should be a good test of the progress they have made against Coventry.
Prior to the international break, Hull highlighted their improvement with a 1-0 win at Leicester, bringing an end to the Foxes 100 per cent record.
Liam Rosenior’s side have spent some big money over the summer in a bid to transform themselves into promotion contenders, while also recruiting loanees Liam Delap and Scott Twine from the Premier League.
Coventry, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season as they lost a play-off final penalty shootout against Luton at Wembley.
That success meant they were forced to sell last season’s star men Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer and an influx of new arrivals has triggered an inconsistent start.
The visitors have won only one of their opening five league matches, failing to win on their opening two away trips at Leicester and Swansea.
Team news
Hull have a big squad at their disposal and Jaden Philogene-Bidace has yet to make his debut since arriving from Aston Villa.
Aaron Connolly, a summer arrival from Brighton, is likely to retain his place up front and Greg Docherty is Rosenior’s only notable absentee.
Coventry have a couple more injury woes to contend with as Jamie Allen, Fabio Tavares and Callum O’Hare remain sidelined.
The stats
Hull have gone four games unbeaten in the Championship and they have collected four points from their first two home outings, beating Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 and drawing 1-1 with Bristol City.
That means the Tigers have lost only one of their last 14 Championship home games and that reverse came against last season’s champions Burnley in March.
Coventry have drawn each of their last three league matches and they have won only one of their last five league outings on the road.
Both teams scored in each of last season’s league meetings as Hull won 3-2 on home soil in August and they played out a 1-1 draw at Coventry in March.
Both teams have also scored in four of Hull’s five league games while the net has bulged at both ends in three of Coventry’s five fixtures.
Prediction
Hull have made an impressive start to the new Championship season, collecting 10 points from five games to move into the play-off places, and they look the most likely victors in Friday’s home game with Coventry.
The Tigers have gone four games unbeaten in the Championship and that includes a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Leicester, who had previously been a perfect four from four.
At home, Hull have taken no prisoners and they have lost only one of their last 14 league games at the MKM Stadium, being beaten only by last season’s champions Burnley in that run.
Rosenior strengthened the core of his squad over the summer, injecting some Premier League quality in the form of Connolly, Delap and Twine, and this looks a tricky test for the visitors.
Having lost the services of their two most influential players from last season in Gyokeres and Hamer, Coventry have looked like a work in progress.
The Sky Blues have won only one of their first five games of this season and they may struggle to build on that against this new-look Hull outfit.
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