England Championship Betting Tips - Hull v Brighton

England Championship betting predictions - Hull v Brighton (18/08 15:00)

Two teams who finished in midtable last season meet here with both sides looking to kick on towards the playoffs. Hull had a strange close season, they improved onfield with the help of player manager and club legend Nick Barmby. Then sacked him for comments he made in the media. Steve Bruce arrived early June on a 3 year deal. Brighton made great strides last year under Gus Poyet. Had a blistering start to the season and played great football. The wheels came off in the second part of the season but they still finished a credible 10th place.

Hull and Steve Bruce go into to the new season with renewed optimism, eyecatching transfers from the highest level added to an already decent squad. In come keeper Ben Amos and defenders Alex Bruce and Abdi Faye. Joined by attackers Sone Aluko and Nick Proschwitz. Hull have done well to trim the large squad and have released 8 players with only Kamel Ghilas the only real loss. The team is a really balanced one and has good players in all areas. Brighton have made some really good signings in the close season with Wayne Bridge, Andrew Crofts, Tomasz Kuszcak and all arriving from the Prem and Bruno checking in from Valencia.They will improve the team level no end and Gus Poyet will be confident of an improvement on last year. Only really missing an out and out scorer to propel Brighton into that important top 6.

Head to Head: Games played:30

• Hull Wins:3
• Draw:8
• Brighton Wins:9

Average goals per game:1.95

Prediction - Another game that is really evenly matched. Two teams who did well last year and will be looking for that extra kick to maybe take a playoff spot. Both sides will be worth backing in the coming months but playing each other we will just take a watching brief. No Selection recommended.