ENG. CHAMPIONSHIP BETTING PICK - CRYSTAL PALACE V HULL CITY

Eng. Championship

2013-03-05 - Crystal Palace vs Hull City

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

CRYSTAL PALACE v HULL CITY
Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 5th March 2013 – Kickoff: 2000hrs

CRYSTAL PALACE

A top of the table clash is next up in the Championship as hosts and fourth placed Crystal Palace take on second placed Hull City at Selhurst Park in the pick of the Tuesday night schedule.

Crystal Palace will be looking for back-to-back wins with the visit of Hull City following their impressive away win at Derby County last Friday night, and in turn close the gap on the visitors to just one point as the race for automatic promotion up to the Premier League hots up.

Palace’s win at Pride Park on Friday night was their fourth win in six matches with just the one defeat during this run which was a slightly surprising 0-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday. A well-earned point at play-off rivals Watford along with wins over Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Derby have kept The Eagles on course for a serious tilt at automatic promotion and a return to the big-time for manager Ian Holloway.

Crystal Palace’s home record stands at a solid 11-5-1 and their only loss at Selhurst Park to date was their season opener against Watford with Palace losing 2-3. Since then they’ve embarked on an impressive run of form on home ground which includes five clean sheets and failing to score just once (0-0 v Bolton back in January).

HULL CITY

Hull City secured their fourth win from their last five matches on Saturday when they beat Birmingham City at their KC Stadium, but interestingly their four wins (Derby County, Charlton Athletic, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham) have all come in front of their home supporters while their away form continues to be questionable particularly in recent weeks.

The Tigers have lost their last two on their travels with defeats at Brighton 0-1 and Bolton 1-4, along with taking just single points at struggling Blackpool and Peterborough United, but they did manage a win at Millwall at the start of February, Hull winning 1-0.

Whilst it was probably very satisfying for manager Steve Bruce to get one over his old club on the weekend, a 5-2 win over Birmingham City at home isn’t much of a yard-stick in all honesty given Birmingham’s poor season to date, and Bruce will know he’ll have his work cut out if they’re to get anything at a more solid Crystal Palace.

Hull City’s away record stands at 8-3-6 20/22 which isn’t too bad but a couple less defeats would have probably seen them level on points with Cardiff City.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

Crystal Palace have been solid at home all season while there has recently been a couple of chinks in Hull’s away armour, so I’ll back The Eagles here tonight giving the quarter ball to soften the blow if they don’t win it straight. Crystal Palace to walk away with the points though 1-0.

The Pick :