Blackpool welcome Hull City to Bloomfield Road on New Year’s Day in the opening Sky Bet Championship clash of 2022.
Victory would see Blackpool climb to 12th in the table, whereas Hull will stay 19th regardless of what they achieve here.
Team News
Blackpool have no fresh injury concerns to report after Wednesday’s defeat against Middlesbrough.
Jordan Gabriel (suspension), Chris Maxwell (quad), Matty Virtue (knee), Grant Ward (Achilles), Reece James, Ryan Wintle (both Coronavirus), Luke Garbutt (fitness) and Kevin Stewart (hamstring) remain ruled out.
Hull will be without several unnamed players after cancelling their last two matches due to a Coronavirus outbreak.
Josh Emmanuel (illness), Lewis Coyle (ankle), Alfie Jones (hamstring) and Brandon Fleming (leg) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Blackpool are unbeaten in their last seven Championship meetings against Hull (W3, D4).
- Hull have claimed two points from three previous Championship visits to Blackpool (D2, L1).
- Two of Jerry Yates’ six league goals this season have been scored at home.
- Keane Lewis-Potter has scored in three of Hull’s last four away matches.
- This is Blackpool’s first match this season to be refereed by Dean Whitestone.
Prediction
Having suffered late defeats in their last two matches despite putting in excellent attacking performances especially with a depleted squad against Boro on Wednesday, Blackpool will surely fancy their chances here if they can put shots away and improve defensively.
Hull meanwhile are an unknown quantity due to the severe depletion of their squad but they’ve been in good form with just one defeat in their last seven games, amidst continued leaky defending which needs tightening up if they’re to stay up.
This game though feels like Blackpool’s to lose given the squad issues within both teams coupled with head-to-head form, yet Hull are in good form so should make a fight of this if their players are strong enough to handle this match.
Prediction: Blackpool 1-0 Hull
Result: Blackpool 1-0 Hull