Football betting tips: Championship
1.5pts Over 3.5 Hull cards at 10/3 (Paddy Power, Sky Bet)
A game of football will be taking place at Wembley on Saturday.
A straightforward statement but one which looked in doubt at times over the past couple of weeks. The 'Spygate' saga led to Southampton's removal from the competition with Middlesbrough taking their spot.
Among the chaos on one side of the bracket, Hull were waiting patiently on the other having deservedly secured their place at the national stadium with a superb second leg performance against Millwall.
That's enough said about the whole story. It's done and you'll have been following it closely enough anyway. We can now, hopefully, just enjoy what is the best weekend on the football calendar.
The games though usually aren't the most entertaining. Players become scared to be the one to make the costly mistake - you get team approaches where they don't want to lose rather than trying to win.
Add in the boiling hot temperatures which are hitting Wembley and it all points to a low scorer. That's an angle Jimmy's covered in his column which you can read here.
Boro are probably the best footballing side in the second tier, the problem they've had is converting those chances. When they're in their flow they're a lovely team to watch - I still can't quite believe they slipped to fifth in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Perhaps they should have done more in January, again though, that's done. They've been given an opportunity at promotion and have by all accounts kept themselves prepared for a Wembley appearance.
Hull's own preparations will have been disrupted but they may well look to disrupt Middlesbrough's flow. The late December meeting between the pair ending in a 1-0 victory to the Tigers despite the vast majority of the opportunities going to their opponents.
They were shown three cards that day and I'm happy to side with the 10/3 on OVER 3.5 HULL CARDS here. They ranked sixth for fouls committed this season (11.4) with a slight bump in the average (11.6) when away from home.
Sergej Jakirović's side are a well-drilled side out of possession with an ability to counter attack with real threat. Given the quality of their opponent, this very easily could be the approach again.
Part of this will be disrupting Boro's time on the ball. Small fouls here and there may become a feature while they will be fine to take a card if it stops anything promising developing.
Premier League official Jarred Gillett drops down to oversee this one and he dished out six yellows in his only Championship outing of the campaign - that being Middlesbrough's 2-2 draw away at Ipswich last month.
His last Wembley appearance delivered seven yellows as Chelsea beat Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final. He has shown that he can be strict, particularly in significant games.
If it is the close, low-scoring game that's expected, that does suit Hull the longer it goes on. To be honest, the less football that's actually being played the more it suits Hull in a final.
While I'm unsure if they can get a result, I do hold some confidence that the referee will be speaking plenty of times to Hull across the course of the afternoon.
Odds correct at 12:20 BST (22/05/26)
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