A rare Saturday night piece of Championship scheduling as Hull play host to Ipswich.
Heaven Or Hull
Although Ipswich start the weekend outside the Championship’s top two, automatic promotion is still in the Tractor Boys’ hands.
Up To Them
It will be a case of Saturday night under the Championship lights for both Hull and Ipswich this weekend and with the two teams both having aspirations of earning Premier League promotion at the end of the season, both teams come into this upcoming clash needing all three points.
Hosts Hull go into this all-important tie lying seventh in the Championship table but with an incredibly important commodity in their back pocket and with a priceless amount of momentum being cultivated by Liam Rosenior’s men, they will look to extend a five-game unbeaten run.
A run that has seen Hull pick up 11 points from the last 15 on offer and the most recent three were earned as recently as Wednesday. A trip to FA Cup nearly-men Coventry in midweek was labelled as a six-pointer in terms of respective hopes, it was the Sky Blues who ended up with nothing.
The 3-2 win for Hull is massively important in the race for sixth and although it has not thrust the Tigers past Norwich just yet, it has at least put a further dent in the hopes of this season’s FA Cup losing semi-finalists.
Instead of a three-horse race for the final playoff invite, it now looks like being just two and three points separating Norwich in sixth and Hull a position below, the Canaries also have a better goal difference should it be required as a tiebreaker.
While in terms of three-horse races in the Championship, there is no more important one than the race to not only win the division outright but also earn the other automatic Premier League promotion berth by finishing second.
As we enter another exciting round of second tier action, it is Leicester who currently sit at the summit and with a four-point gap over Leeds in second. A point further back from the Elland Road outfit are Ipswich but with a game in hand at their disposal.
A game in hand that will become two by the time Ipswich take to the MKM Stadium surface and although the gap is a single point before a ball is kicked at Loftus Road on Friday night as QPR entertain Leeds, it could just as easily be four come full time.
Of course, Ipswich have not found wins easy in the past few weeks. In fact, Kieran McKenna’s men have not won at all and with no win in their past three attempts, the Tractor Boys have picked up just two points from the last nine on offer.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and although Hull have not lost in five, their run sees a win followed by a draw and after winning their last outing in midweek, the pattern points to stalemate – especially as Ipswich have lost form at the worst time. The draw is priced at 13/5.
In addition to this, Jeremy Sarmiento has had a hand in late drama for Ipswich recently and although it may not be in the dying seconds, I am backing the Brighton loanee to score the last goal of the game at odds of 11/1.
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