Hull vs Birmingham Prediction: Big three points at stake for both teams

Hull City host Birmingham City at the MKM Stadium on Tuesday evening (19:45) in the Championship as they look to get back to winning ways after drawing their last two games.

Birmingham were beaten in a 4-3 thriller at home to Southampton over the weekend and have now lost two on the spin. They haven't been playing badly, they just played two very good teams in the Saints and Ipswich Town. The Blues are now just outside the relegation zone on goal difference and they will need to get points on the board soon as the teams around them have been doing in recent weeks.

Match Odds

Hull are the 4/5 favourites to win this contest, Birmingham are priced at 7/2 to come away with the three points, while the draw can be backed at 13/5.

Both teams to score is valued at 8/11 and over 2.5 goals is 4/5.

Team News

Hull could be without striker Aaron Connolly again in midweek after the player missed the weekend clash with Preston North End with a dead leg. Liam Delap remains in the treatment room, giving Liam Rosenior a choice to make at centre-forward between veteran Billy Sharp or Fabio Carvalho as a false nine.

Birmingham have a crisis in defence. Kevin Long departed the club for Toronto last week and now Dion Sanderson will miss the next three games due to suspension. Marc Roberts is touch-and-go to return against Hull, while Krystian Bielik is set to be out for a period of time.

Mark Venus could be forced to pair Emanuel Aiwu with full-back Cody Drameh in the heart of the defence, which is by no means ideal. Alfie Chang remains sidelined through injury, while Alex Pritchard could come into the XI.

Both teams to score @ 8/11

These two sides have a lot of quality to offer going forward so we're confident that BTTS will land on Humberside. It delivered when the two teams faced off in both fixtures of their FA Cup third-round clash. BTTS has also been a winning selection in last three outings, while in four of Hull's last five.

With this game meaning a lot at both ends of the table, both sets of players will be pumped up for this clash and goals shouldn't be in short supply. Particularly as 12 of the Blues' Championship matches this season have produced over 3.5 goals, which itself has landed in their last two matches against the Saints and the Tractor Boys. Over 3.5 goals is marketed at 2/1 for this one.

Hull or Birmingham and over 2.5 goals @ 21/20

With both these sides failing to win in their last two, there's an onus on them to get back to winning ways. The Tigers are looking to solidify their position inside the play-offs, while Birmingham are looking to avoid the drop for the umpteenth season.

Above we have made our reasoning for why we believe goals won't be an issue in this contest, but calling the outcome is a tricky one. Birmingham prevailed in their most recent meeting in the FA Cup but both teams had rotated their sides. Hull won the league reversal back in October when Wayne Rooney was in charge at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

There is enough quality on both sides for either of them to emerge victorious on Tuesday night, and those three points could be crucial for each of their season's. We think the double chance market is the smartest avenue to go down here as a draw right now does not seem likely, and doesn't do either side many favours.