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Hull City vs Middlesbrough prediction & betting tips: Gelhardt can lead Tigers charge
Follow our football betting tips as Middlesbrough travel to Hull in the Championship
Hull vs Middlesbrough betting tips
Middlesbrough won’t find it easy to cut Coventry’s lead at the top of the table on Friday night when they visit a Hull City side outperforming pre-season expectations (8pm, Sky Sports Football).
Boro currently sit 10 points off the top of the Championship but can close the gap with a win, for a few hours at least, before Coventry travel to Ipswich Town on Saturday.
Boro’s new boss, Kim Hellberg, got off to a winning start last weekend when his side came from behind to beat Derby 2-1 at the Riverside.
The 37-year-old left Swedish side Hammarby to replace Rob Edwards, who swapped the Championship high-fliers for Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.
Despite the upheaval, Middlesbrough go into the game with just three defeats from their 18 league games this season, with betting sites ranking their chances of promotion highly, with only Coventry, Ipswich and Birmingham ahead of them in the promotion market.
After losing at Portsmouth and Watford, they were beaten by leaders Coventry a fortnight ago, when caretaker Adi Viveash was in charge.
They came from 2-2 down to level things at the Riverside through Morgan Whittaker and an own goal from Bobby Thomas, only for Ellis Simms and Liam Kitching to add to their first-half goals and secure a 4-2 win.
In Hull City, they face another side enjoying an impressive start to the season, especially after they only avoided relegation to League One in May on goal difference.
They currently sit ninth in the league table, but a win on Friday could see them move up as high as third and result in bookmakers cutting their Championship promotion odds further.
They beat high-flying Stoke City last weekend when Joe Gelhardt scored in added time to secure a 2-1 win at the Bet365 Stadium, to end a run of two straight defeats to QPR and Ipswich.
Hull City vs Middlesbrough preview: Tigers to leave their mark
Boro have conceded in their last seven matches and have kept just one clean sheet since the end of September, and with Hull having scored the second-highest number of goals so far this season, they will certainly fancy their chances of adding to their tally on Friday.
Sergej Jakirovic’s side have scored 30 goals from their opening 18 games, which is second only to the league leaders, and they have only failed to score in one of their last 14 matches and that was at home to Ipswich a fortnight ago.
There have been more than 3.5 goals in their matches on nine separate occasions this season, and football betting sites are offering 12/5 on that happening again.
Hull vs Middlesbrough prediction 1: Hull to score over 1.5 goals - 9/5 BetMGM
Hull vs Middlesbrough prediction: Gelhardt to keep up his fine form
Midfielder Joe Gelhardt has had a great start to the campaign with nine goals in 19 appearances since rejoining the club on loan from Leeds United.
The 23-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at the MKM Stadium, scoring five goals in 20 games.
He has three goals in his last four games and seven in his last nine, and betting sites are still offering odds of 3/1 on him scoring again on Friday.
Hull vs Middlesbrough prediction 2: Joe Gelhardt to score at any time - 3/1 Bet365
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