Burnley v Hull: Tigers can roar towards the promised land

11Mar 2013

England - The Championship

Hull can take advantage of their rivals' Saturday slip-ups to move back into second place in the Championship, says Andy Tongue...

Burnley v Hull

Monday 11th March

19:45 GMT

Live on Sky Sports 1

A rare televised Monday night game in the Championship sees promotion chasing Hull visiting Turf Moor, knowing that a victory will see them leap-frog Watford and Crystal Palace back into the second automatic promotion spot after those two clubs failed to win on Saturday.

Burnley

The home side are one of the few sides in the Championship with nothing more than pride left to play for this season, safely clear of the relegation scrap but with the play-off spots now out of sight. They are heavily reliant on Charlie Austin, who has scored 23 times this season, for an attacking threat. Having only scored more than once in one of their last eight games, they hadn't scored for 348 minutes until Austin grabbed a priceless winner at Charlton last Saturday before following up with another in the midweek draw at home to Barnsley.

Hull

The Tigers have become a tricky side to read of late. Having been one of the division's most solid and consistent outfits all season Steve Bruce's charges have veered from the sublime to the awful over their last three games with a 5-2 home win over Birmingham sandwiched in between heavy defeats at Bolton and Crystal Palace. However, with Palace and Watford both failing to win at home on Saturday, they have a great opportunity to strike a blow in what now looks a three-way battle for automatic promotion alongside Cardiff. Egyptian striker Gedo has scored five goals in five games since arriving on loan from Al Alhy.

Match Odds

Hull have actually won eight times away from home, only the top two Cardiff and Watford have better records on the road, and Burnley's form at Turf Moor is nothing to shout about - seven wins, six draws and five defeats. At this stage of the season, when one team is desperate for the victory and their opponents have nothing to play for, you want to be backing the side who need the points, especially when over the course of the previous six months they have proved to be 17 points better. So Hull to win at 2.7 has to be our recommended bet.

First Goalscorer

Gedo (Mohammed Nagy) has given Hull extra cutting edge in attack and is the most likely player to open the scoring for the visitors.

Recommended Bets

Best Bet: Back Hull to win at 2.7

Back Gedo to be first goalscorer at best available price