Middlesbrough vs Hull City Prediction: Boro to keep promotion bid on track

Middlesbrough will be looking to get back to winning ways when they welcome fellow Championship promotion hopefuls Hull City to the Riverside on Monday (19:45 GMT).

Read on for my Middlesbrough vs Hull City predictions with team news and match odds.

Team News

Middlesbrough could be without the trio of Alfie Jones, George Edmundson and Matt Targett, who all picked up knocks in the Boxing Day draw against Blackburn.

Hull are missing Semi Ajayi, who is with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Liam Millar and Eliot Matazo are unavailable due to injury.

Joe Gelhardt and John Lundstram are also expected to miss out due to a lack of fitness.

Football Odds

Today's Football Fixtures

Middlesbrough vs Hull City Odds

Middlesbrough are the firm 8/13 favourites to register a 13th Championship win of the season, with the draw priced at 3/1 and Hull 4/1 to claim the spoils.

Boro won 4-1 when these two met at the MKM Stadium earlier this month and the hosts can be backed at 22/1 to repeat that feat.

Middlesbrough to win and both teams to score @ 21/10

Head coach Kim Hellberg made a terrific start to his Boro tenure, winning his first four games in charge, but he has hit his first bump in the road with a 2-0 loss at Bristol City followed by a goalless draw against Blackburn on Boxing Day.

The Teessiders sit second in the table, five points ahead of Ipswich in third and fourth-placed Hull, so Monday's clash at the Riverside carries even more significance as the battle for automatic promotion heats up.

The Tigers head into this contest on a four-game unbeaten run, winning three and drawing one, while they have scored at least once in their last six assignments.

Hull look capable of finding the back of the net again, but it may end up being in defeat given Middlesbrough have the fourth-best away record in the league and haven't lost at the Riverside in their last three fixtures.

Boro also cruised to a 4-1 victory when these two met at the MKM Stadium earlier in December, and Hellberg's side look capable of picking up a precious three points again.

Ryan Giles to be booked @ 5/1

Hull haven't been afraid to get stuck in this season and they have received no less than 53 yellow cards, the joint-most in the division alongside Derby County.

The Tigers could find themselves on the back foot for large periods of this encounter and that could spell bad news for defender Ryan Giles, who has been cautioned in two of his last three outings.

Giles has five yellows this term, of which three have come in his last seven appearances, and he may find his name taken once again by the referee.

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