Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Championship clash between Derby County and Hull City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two in-form teams will face off when Hull City travels to Pride Park for Tuesday's Championship meeting with Derby County.
The Rams have taken maximum points from their last three games, while the Tigers have put together a six-game unbeaten run.
Match preview
John Eustace made an underwhelming start to his first full season as Derby boss after seeing his side win just one of their opening 10 league matches (D5, L4).
However, Eustace has masterminded an upturn in fortunes in recent games, leading his charges to three consecutive victories since losing to Oxford on October 18.
The Rams recorded successive 1-0 home wins over Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers, before they saw off Sheffield United in Saturday's clash at Bramall Lane.
Carlton Morris scored his first senior hat-trick to fire Derby to a 3-1 victory, representing the club's second away success of the 2025-26 Championship campaign.
Having collected 17 points from 13 games, Eustace's side are sitting in 17th place in the Championship standings, leaving them eight points clear of the bottom three and five points adrift of the playoffs.
They may fancy their chances of adding three more points to their tally, having won four of their previous five matches against Hull (D1), including a narrow 1-0 win in April's away encounter.
With that said, Derby are set to face a Hull side who will have momentum behind them after winning four and drawing two of their last six matches.
The Tigers kicked off their unbeaten run with a draw against Preston North End, before they clinched three successive victories over Sheffield United, Birmingham City and Leicester City.
After they took a point from a game against Charlton Athletic, Hull quickly returned to winning ways in Saturday's visit to Carrow Road, where Joe Gelhardt and Darko Gyabi grabbed a goal apiece in a 2-0 victory over struggling Norwich City.
As a result of their fine form, Sergej Jakirovic's head into the midweek round of fixtures in seventh place and just outside the top six on goal difference, while they are only three points adrift of Middlesbrough in second position.
The Tigers may have the worst defensive record out of the 12 teams in the top half of the table, but their defensive deficiencies have been offset by a return of 22 goals in 13 matches, making them the division's second-highest scorers behind leaders Coventry City.
They will hope their firepower can be the difference on Tuesday, as the visitors go in search of their first away win over Derby since running out 3-0 winners in May 2016.
Derby County Championship form:
D D L W W W
Hull City Championship form:
D W W W D W
Team News
Derby defender Max Johnston is set to miss up to eight weeks after he sustained a hamstring injury in the win over QPR on October 25.
The Rams are also without Curtis Nelson and Lewis Travis, while Owen Beck is not quite ready to make his return to action.
Eustace is likely to keep changes to a minimum, although David Ozoh is an option to freshen up the midfield for Tuesday's home clash.
As for the Tigers, they have to contend with a lengthy injury list which includes Oli McBurnie, Liam Millar, Kasey Palmer, John Lundstram, Akin Famewo, Mohamed Belloumi and Eliot Matazo.
Defender Semi Ajayi is set to return to the starting lineup after featuring as a half-time substitute on Saturday.
Gyabi could also come into Jakirovic's thinking after he came off the bench to open his Hull account against Norwich City.
Derby County possible starting lineup:
Widell Zetterstrom; Langas, Sanderson, Clarke; Ward, Adams, Ozoh, Forsyth; Brereton Diaz, Agyemang; Morris
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Egan, Ajayi, Hughes; Coyle, Gyabi, Slater, Giles; Crooks; Joseph, Gelhardt
We say: Derby County 1-1 Hull City
Derby may have won four of their last five matches against Hull, but we think they will fail in their quest to claim all three points on this occasion.
That is because Hull have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, and we think they will extend their unbeaten run by picking up a point at Pride Park.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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