Two sides separated by just two points at the top end of the Championship table will square off on Saturday, as Hull City welcome Preston North End to the MKM Stadium.
The visitors have dropped to fourth spot in the midst of a six-match winless run, while their hosts moved back within touching distance of the playoff places with a midweek victory.
Match preview
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Hull City will return to the MKM Stadium in high spirits on Saturday, having returned to winning ways in midweek after enduring a run of four games without a victory either side of the October international break.
After collecting 15 points from their opening eight games, Liam Rosenior's side went into the break on the back of two draws and a defeat and suffered another loss on their return to action last weekend, being beaten in agonising fashion at home to Southampton as William Smallbone netted the decisive goal for their visitors in the 95th minute after the contest looked set to end in a 1-1 draw thanks to Liam Delap's equaliser.
Aiming to bounce back from that disappointment and move back towards the playoff spots, the Tigers travelled to St Andrew's to take on Birmingham City on Wednesday, and they succeeded in recording a fifth three-point haul of the campaign, leaving with a 2-0 victory as Liam Delap opened the scoring in the 12th minute and Jaden Philogene added a second 16 minutes from time.
Such a result added to Hull's impressive away record this season, with only Leicester City and Ipswich Town having managed more than their 13 points in seven games on the road, but there is certainly cause for concern in their home form, having only managed seven points in six games on their own patch thus far with only the bottom two sides in the division earning fewer.
Now with renewed confidence from Wednesday's triumph, having moved level on points with sixth-placed West Bromwich Albion and just two points behind Saturday's visitors, the Tigers will hope to begin correcting that record in East Yorkshire with a victory to move back into the playoff spots this weekend.
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They meet a Preston North End side who will fight to arrest their slump and preserve their place at the top end of the table, with Preston North End having failed to pick up a single victory in their last six outings.
Ryan Lowe's side led the second tier with six victories and a draw from their opening seven league games, but they have added just three more points to their tally in six attempts since, and they went into the international break on the back of three straight defeats to West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City and Ipswich Town, conceding 11 goals in the process.
Aiming to put that slump behind them and catch back up with the top two, the Lilywhites returned to action at home to Millwall and played out a 1-1 draw, before most recently hosting fifth-placed Southampton on Wednesday and being held to a 2-2 draw at the death.
After initially going behind, Lowe's men went 2-1 up in the second half as Milutin Osmajic and Brad Potts netted goals before the hour mark, and they looked set to see out the 2-1 victory until the Saints equalised deep into injury time, with goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu's header finding the net after a deflection off Ched Evans.
Left wounded by that late disappointment, Preston will now be desperate to bounce back with a third away win of the campaign on Saturday and a first league victory since mid-September as they aim to fend off the chasing pack and maintain their position in the playoff places, with the chance to move five points clear of their hosts who they played out two goalless stalemates with last season.
Team News
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After seeing several players return from injury layoffs in recent weeks, Hull City should come into the weekend with a clean bill of health, aside from the absence of midfielder Regan Slater.
Liam Rosenior will certainly avoid making many changes after their midweek away win, and Jaden Philogene and Liam Delap are bound to keep their places in attack after their goals at St Andrew's, while Scott Twine will also hope to start again amid competition from Dogukan Sinik, Aaron Connolly and Jason Lokilo.
Greg Docherty and Ozan Tufan will both fight to return to the midfield from the outset, although we are more likely to see an unchanged pairing of Jean-Michael Seri and Tyler Morton in front of the back four of Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Sean Mcloughlin and Jacob Greaves.
Saturday's visitors have more injury concerns to deal with, as attacker Emil Riis remains sidelined alongside midfielder Ali McCann and defenders Andrew Hughes, Calvin Ramsay and Jack Whatmough.
With Hughes and Whatmough out of contention, Greg Cunningham will again join mainstays Liam Lindsay and Jordan Storey in a back three, while Brad Potts and Liam Millar should continue to operate on attacking wing-back roles.
Will Keane will hope to keep his starting place as a lone striker, with support from Mads Frokjaer-Jensen and Duane Holmes, although Milutin Osmajic is vying to come in and lead the line after netting his second goal for the club off the bench on Wednesday.
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Greaves; Seri, Morton; Philogene, Delap, Traore; Connolly
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham; Potts, Browne, Whiteman, Millar; Frokjaer-Jensen, Osmajic, Holmes
We say: Hull City 1-1 Preston North End
We see the sides on a level playing field in terms of quality, and while Preston will be deflated from Southampton's late equaliser in midweek, they did battle hard to lead in that contest and will be desperate to put things right at the weekend.
While we back the Lilywhites to come away with a result, they meet an impressive Hull side with renewed confidence from their recent away victory, and consequently, we do not see either team outclassing the other and instead opt for a share of the spoils.
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Top tip
Sam Varley
