Another American is only 90 minutes from promotion to the Premier League with Adian Morris and Middlesbrough taking on Hull City in the Championship promotion playoff final Saturday morning on Paramount+. He has the chance to join Haji Wright and Coventry City, who earned automatic promotion. It’s the richest game in sport with the prize of promotion being valued at $275 million over multiple seasons. But what’s strange is that Middlesbrough are in the final after replacing Southampton, who they lost to in the semifinals.How to watch Hull City vs. Middlesbrough, oddsDate: Saturday, May 20 | Time: 10:30 a.m. ETLocation: Wembley Stadium — London, EnglandLive stream: Paramount+
Southampton were kicked out of the Promotion playoff final due to spying on Middlesbrough’s training in the lead up to that match, which is a breach of EFL rules. That created an unprecedented scenario where Boro will have a chance at making it to the Premier League while losing their semifinal match. On the other end of things, Hull City essentially had a short week of preparation due to not knowing who they would face until a decision was made about Southampton.
Finishing sixth and just sneaking into the playoffs, Hull City have already gotten by Millwall, but facing Middlesbrough will be even tougher. Boro are the third best team in the league by expected goal difference at 28.96, meanwhile Hull City are the second worst by the same metric at -18.83. Only the teams earning automatic promotion bettered Boro’s number, but Wembley is the great equalizer.
Boro have played five matches at Wembley in their history, including the 2015 playoff final, and they’ve failed to win any of them, but there’s no better time than the present to change that. They haven’t been in the Premier League since the 2008-09 season, and with Sunderland and Newcastle United in the league, getting promoted would also mean the return of the Wear-Tees and Tyne-Tees derbies, where the trio battle each other.
Hull City have been in the top flight more recently, getting relegated at the end of the 2016-17 season, but they’ve rebounded from a brief stint in League One to be just 90 minutes from making it back to the top flight.
Surprisingly, it will be tough to ignore the left-backs in the teams as Ryan Giles and Matt Targett have been creative forces behind their sides, but both boast strong attackers to take advantage of the service coming into the box. It was a surprise to see Oli McBurnie miss out on the Scotland World Cup squad after scoring 17 goals this season, but he’ll be the man that Hull will look for as Joe Gelhardt will clean up anything that falls his way. Morgan Whittaker paces Boro with 14 goals and seven assists, while David Strelac, joining from Slovan Bratislava, added extra power to the attack to push for the Premier League. With tight spaces galore in a match of this magnitude, whoever keeps their cool could push
Predicion
It’s time for Boro to break the Wembley curse. They were one of the best teams in the league during the season, and while they needed a lifeline to get here, one goal will be enough to secure their place in the Premier League. Score: Hull City 0, Middlesbrough 1
