Middlesbrough welcome Hull City to Riverside Stadium in a crucial Sky Bet Championship match.
Victory could see Middlesbrough climb to third if Luton lose elsewhere, whilst Hull can go 14th with a win.
Team News
Aaron Ramsey is doubtful for Middlesbrough after he was substituted in their win against Norwich, due to an ankle injury suffered midway through the first half.
Riley McGree (ankle), Marcus Forss (knock) and Dael Fry (Achilles/ankle) are doubts, with Forss the most likely to return if he passes a late fitness test.
Matt Clarke (back) and Sonny Finch (unspecified) remain absent.
Hull could welcome Ryan Longman back into contention after he missed their goalless draw at Blackburn with a dead leg.
Alfie Jones (quad), Cyrus Christie, Tobias Figueiredo (both knee), Vaughn Covil (ACL), Nathan Baxter, Oscar Estupinan (both ankle), Benjamin Tetteh (hamstring) and Aaron Connolly (toe) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Middlesbrough host Hull in a 8pm BST kick-off at Riverside Stadium on Wednesday 19 April, live on Sky Sports in UK.
Stat Attack
- Middlesbrough have claimed four points in their last five meetings against Hull (W1, D1, L3).
- Hull have lost three of their last five visits to Middlesbrough (W1, D1, L3).
- Victory would see Boro do the league double over Hull in a single season for the first time since 2017-18 season, in which they won both matches by 3-1 result that season.
- If Boro’s Chuba Akpom scores against Hull, he will set a new record for scoring in most consecutive home matches in the second-tier – having already scored in eight straight home games.
- Hull are unbeaten in their last five matches (W1, D4).
Prediction
Having hammered Norwich in difficult weather conditions with an energetic performance, Middlesbrough now need to continue applying their aggressive free-flowing attack, whilst cutting out their defensive mistakes if want to take momentum into their likely play-off semi-final.
Hull meanwhile have found some form even though wins are still largely evading them but to go five games unbeaten amidst an injury crisis is admirable, yet they’re going to need to deliver another defensive masterclass like they did at Blackburn to claim a result.
I however do fancy Boro to comfortably win this if they play like they did at the weekend but with neater defending, although Hull should at least try and make this a tough contest defensively to break down.
Prediction: Middlesbrough 2-0 Hull
Result: Middlesbrough 3-1 Hull
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