Championship

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Championship | Gameweek 41

Jul 5, 2020 at 3pm UK

The Hawthorns

West Brom
4 - 2
Hull City

Austin (4'), Hegazy (37'), Grosicki (49'), Diangana (76')
Hegazy (12'), Bartley (78')
Hegazy (90+2')

FT(HT: 2-1)

Stewart (24'), Wilks (48')
Toral (79')

Preview: West Bromwich Albion vs. Hull City - prediction, team news, lineups

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 03 July 2020

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Championship clash between West Bromwich Albion and Hull City, including team news and predicted lineups.

West Bromwich Albion can move another step closer to Premier League promotion on Sunday when they welcome Hull City to The Hawthorns.

Slaven Bilic's men returned to winning ways in midweek and are five points clear of third ahead of this visit of relegation-threatened Hull, who are down in 19th place.

Match preview

West Bromwich Albion players celebrate scoring against Sheffield Wednesday on July 1, 2020 © Reuters

The pressure had been building on West Brom after four games without a win either side of the three-month hiatus, with the Baggies failing to score in any of those matches.

Wednesday's 3-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday lifted a lot of weight off Bilic's shoulders, then, as Albion maintained a five-point advantage on the chasing pack.

West Brom now stand six games away from a Premier League return, with half of those games against teams battling relegation.

That is the case for Hull, who are two points above the relegation zone thanks to a massive win of their own last time out.

The Tigers recovered from a goal down to beat fellow strugglers Middlesbrough 2-1 at the KCOM Stadium on Thursday, Mallik Wilks snatching the points in the 93rd minute.

The late goal from Wilks brought an end to City's 15 match winless run in all competitions, 13 of those coming in the league in a run stretching back to New Year's Day.

Mallik Wilks celebrates equalising for Hull City on February 8, 2020 © Reuters

From being a couple of points outside the playoff zone to relegation favourites, it has been quite the slump in form for Grant McCann's men.

They now have a platform to build on, though, and will be looking to gain some momentum ahead of games with Wigan Athletic and Luton Town in the next few weeks.

However, Hull have lost four and won none of their last six away games in the Championship since a 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday in early January.

Interestingly, three of City's last five league goals on the road have come via a header - only one of their previous 20 away goals this season had been scored that way.

West Brom have hardly been in the best of form at The Hawthorns, though, having won just two of their last nine home league fixtures, failing to score in the last two of those.

West Brom's Championship form: WLDDLW
West Brom's form (all competitions): LLDDLW

Hull City's Championship form: LLLLDW

Team News

West Bromwich Albion's Jake Livermore celebrates scoring their second goal with Hal Robson-Kanu and teammates on February 25, 2020 © Reuters

Versatile full-back Nathan Ferguson has not started since the Championship resumed last month and he has been ruled out of this game.

That is Albion's only confirmed absentee following the return to fitness of Grady Diangana, who played nearly an hour against Wednesday but may drop out here.

Jake Livermore, Hal Robson-Kanu and Kamil Grosicki were all named on the bench last time out and will be hoping for recalls on Sunday.

Hull are likely to be without Herbie Kane for this match as the Liverpool loanee limped off shortly after scoring against Middlesbrough.

Callum Elder is also carrying a knock, so Brandon Fleming and Kevin Stewart may return to the starting lineup.

Wilks, Hull's other goalscorer against Boro, should retain his place out on the right after signing a permanent contract with the Tigers this week.

West Brom possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; O'Shea, Hegazi, Ajayi, Gibbs; Livermore, Sawyers; Grosicki, Pereira, Robinson; Austin

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Long; Pennington, Wijs, Burke, Fleming; Wilks, Batty, Stewart, Scott; Lopes; Magennis

We say: West Brom 2-0 Hull City

Both teams will be looking to build on big midweek victories. Hull have lost their last three away matches against promotion-chasing West Brom and we are expecting that run to continue this weekend.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Bromwich Albion win with a probability of 62.98%. A draw had a probability of 20.8% and a win for Hull City had a probability of 16.19%.

The most likely scoreline for a West Bromwich Albion win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.95%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (10.93%) and 2-1 (9.91%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.89%), while for a Hull City win it was 0-1 (4.93%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 1.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that West Bromwich Albion would win this match.