Hull City will be looking to boost their Championship playoff hopes when they welcome relegation-threatened Stoke City to the MKM Stadium on Good Friday.
The Potters will be seeking revenge after they suffered a 3-1 home defeat to the Tigers in September last year.
Match preview
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Since January 19, Hull have enhanced their playoff ambitions having only lost one of their last 10 Championship matches, although they entered the international break following a run of four successive draws.
A solitary point was collected from fixtures against West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End and Birmingham City before the Tigers were pegged back twice to draw 2-2 with former Championship leaders Leicester City last time out – Jamie Vardy scored twice for the Foxes to cancel out strikes from Fabio Carvalho and Anass Zaroury.
Nevertheless, Hull have already equalled their points tally of 58 when they finished 15th last season, and they still have nine games left to play this term, with Liam Rosenior's men currently sitting seventh in the second-tier standings, just three points behind sixth-placed Norwich City in the final playoff spot.
Hull return to the MKM Stadium where they have struggled to come out on top since the turn of the year, winning just one of their last seven home league matches – a 1-0 victory over Millwall on February 3.
The Tigers have reason to be optimistic of completing their first-ever league double over Stoke, though, as the Potters have lost 11 of their last 15 matches across all competitions in 2024.
Stoke entered the international break after alternating between defeat and victory in their last five Championship games, most recently suffering a 3-0 home defeat to Norwich on March 16 – their 19th league loss of the campaign.
The pressure continues to mount on head coach Steven Schumacher, who has won just five of his 17 games in charge of the Potters since taking over in mid-December, with his side currently sitting 19th in the table and just two points above the relegation zone.
Stoke can ill-afford to drop too many more points if they wish to avoid demotion to the third tier for the first time since 1998, and they now have eight games to drag themselves away from the dotted line, with only three of those against current top-half teams.
One of those is Friday's clash with Hull, but Stoke have won each of their last two visits to MKM Stadium by an aggregate score of 5-0 – the Potters have never won three away games in a row against the Tigers.
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Hull will be without key defender Jacob Greaves for the Easter period as he will serve a two-match suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Sean McLoughlin is expected to replace Greaves and partner Alfie Jones at centre-back, while Lewie Coyle and Ryan Giles continue as full-backs.
With Manchester City loanee Liam Delap still sidelined with a knee injury, Liverpool loanee Carvalho is set to start again as a central striker, with Jaden Philogene, Abdulkadir Omur and Zaroury all expected to provide support in attack.
As for Stoke, Wouter Burger will serve the second and final game of his two-match ban on Good Friday, while Junior Tchamadeu (ankle), Enda Stevens (hamstring), Lynden Gooch and Ben Pearson (both muscle) are all nursing injuries.
Jordan Thompson is set to replace Gooch at left wing-back and Luke Cundle could deputise in centre-midfield in the absence of Pearson, although Schumacher may instead opt to start an additional attacker in support of Bae Jun-Ho and Tyreece Campbell.
Andre Vidigal is Stoke's top scorer with just five goals so far this season and he will be pushing for a recall, as will Ryan Mmaee who has not made the net ripple since the end of December.
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Giles; Morton, Seri; Philogene, Omur, Zaroury; Carvalho
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Rose, McNally, Wilmot; Hoever; Laurent, Baker, Thompson; Vidigal, Bae; Campbell
We say: Hull City 3-1 Stoke City
Only one of the last five meetings between Hull and Stoke have seen both teams score – the aforementioned reverse fixture – but we can see these two sides having joy in the final third on Good Friday.
Having said that, playoff hopefuls Hull will be regarded as favourites to come out on top and should ultimately have enough quality in the final third to claim maximum points, ending their four-game winless home run in the process.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
