Burton Albion and Hull City face off on Saturday afternoon with both teams looking for valuable points, the Brewers are looking to pull themselves off the bottom of League One while Hull continue their title charge.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Burton are potentially getting to the point of desperation as they find themselves seven points from safety.
They could find themselves ten points adrift by close of play on Saturday, making the task of escaping relegation even more difficult. The East Midlands side will be hoping they can string together a succession of good results beginning with a win over high-flying Hull.
McCann’s side come into this game having won three of their last four games and are sat three points clear in the automatic promotion places. Hull will be keen to pick up the victory at Pirelli Stadium as they look to return straight back to the Championship.
Team news
For Burton Albion
Hasselbaink added to his side in the January window with the likes of Sean Clare, Terry Taylor, Josh Parker and Josh Earl all be expected to be in the squad.
Clare and Parker both came off the bench in the 1-0 defeat to Ipswich last time out, but will be pushing for a start on Saturday.
Kieran Wallace should be available for selection but John-Joe O’Toole will still be missing through injury.
For Hull City
Hull City added to their attacking ranks with the signings of Daniel Crowley and Jordan Flores, both of who will be hoping to be in the squad.
Another new signing Gavin Whyte will be missing however through an ankle injury, and Hull will also be without defender Alfie Jones who is out with a hamstring injury.
Home manager (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
“It’s an important match tomorrow. Hull are a good team who like to play football from the back.” Hasselbaink told the Burton website.
“At the end of the day, we have to have the mentality that it’s about us and what we can do to hurt the opposition.
“We need to make the Pirelli Stadium a fortress again for us and that means we need to find a way to go at Hull and that’s what we are going to try and do.”
Away manager (Grant McCann)
“There’s been a bit of a change at Burton since the last time we played them,” said McCann to the Hull website.
“One thing I know for sure is we’re going to have to be good in terms of our physicality in the game.
“I’ve played against Jimmy’s teams over the years and they’re always very competitive. First ball, second ball, really organised. We have to be good on that side of the game.
“If we can get that bit right, and our quality shines through at the other end, then we can get the result we want.”
Match Facts
Burton and Hull have only faced off three times in the past with the Tigers winning all three meetings.
Hull have won all three fixtures 5-0, 4-1, and earlier this season the score was 2-0 at the KCOM Stadium.
This will be Burton’s first game since January 16th after being hit with Coronavirus problems. However, they have lost four out of their last five games with their singular win coming away at Gillingham.
Hull have won three out of their last five in the league, they have only lost once in this time which came away at Accrington.
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