Stoke v Hull: Oppose goals on Friday night | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Tim Walter is under-pressure at Hull

Stoke begin life under Narcis Pelach with a home clash against winless Hull in the Championship on Friday night. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is opposing goals...

Stoke v HullFriday September 20, 20:00Live on Sky Sports

Schumacher sacked, Pelach in at Stoke

Stoke raised eyebrows on Monday after sacking head coach Steven Schumacher following the club's 1-0 defeat at Oxford. It was the Potters' third league loss of the season (W2-D0-L3) with the former Plymouth boss axed after just nine months in charge; sporting director Jon Walters said the decision was made to "serve the long-term interests" of the club.

Former Crewe chief Alex Morris and Potters U21s coach Ryan Shawcross took charge of the first-team for Tuesday night's EFL Cup clash with Fleetwood with Norwich first team coach Narcis Pelach quickly lined up as Schumacher's successor. The highly-rated 36-year-old has previously worked under the likes of Pep Guardiola, Carlos Corberan and Neil Warnock.

Stoke had shuffled their pack against Plymouth with Tom Cannon and Sol Sidibe making their first league starts for the Potters, whilst Lynden Gooch and Ben Gibson returned to the XI. Gooch is likely to be sidelined again after picking up an injury at the Kassam Stadium - Tatsuki Seko, Andrew Moran, Lewis Koumas and Ashley Phillips are pushing for inclusion.

Walter under-fire with Hull still winless

New Hull boss Tim Walter has reportedly been given five games to save his job as Tigers chief following a winless start to the season (W0-D3-L2). The Humbersiders suffered a second successive Championship loss as Sheffield United scored twice on the counter-attack to secure a 2-0 triumph at the MKM Stadium last Friday night, leaving City struggling.

Despite promising swashbuckling, attacking football in the summer following his surprise appointment, Walter again presided over a largely flat performance with the hosts rarely looking like scoring but also appearing at risk of conceding every time the Blades came forward. Understandably, questions are now being asked as Hull slide towards the bottom.

Walter made three changes from the side beaten at Leeds with deadline day arrivals Mohamed Belloumi and Abu Kamara coming straight into the side at the expense of Liam Millar and Regan Slater, while Fin Burns was handed a full league debut at the expense of Oscar Zambrano, with those three dropping to the bench. More changes are expected here.

Difficult to split misfiring pair

Curiously, the home side has failed to win any of the last five league meetings between Stoke and Hull with both the Potters and Tigers collecting victories in their away encounter last season. Hull's 3-1 success here 12 months ago was actually their first triumph in 12 trips to Stoke (W1-D4-L7) going back to 2006, scoring only five goals in their previous 11 visits.

It's been an ordinary start for Stoke 2.18. The Potters have been badly beaten at Watford and Oxford, deserved to overcome Plymouth on their travels, whilst picking up a win and defeat in even encounters against Coventry and West Brom as hosts. The club will be hoping to experience a new manager bounce when Narcis Pelach takes charge of Friday's fixture.

Hull 3.65 are a little unlucky to be winless following the first five matchdays. The Tigers have twice won the non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) and shot count, with Expected Points (xP) rankings placing the visitors 11th, four points better off than their actual points tally. The Humbersiders have also scored just twice from a 5.15 Expected Goals (xG) output.

Oppose goals on Friday night

The Championship is avergaing 2.57 goals after five matchdays, yet 57% of second-tier fixtures have paid-out for Under 2.5 Goals 1.93 backers. Both Stoke and Hull have been prominent in the Under 2.5 Goals markets with the duo combining to see eight of their 10 league games feature a maximum of two strikes, none of which have reached 4+ strikes.

Stoke and Hull have scored just five league goals between them in over 15 hours of football, whilst the Expected Goals (xG) averages also point towards a potentially low-scoring contest. The Potters' fixtures are avergaing 2.46 xG, though Hull's matches have delivered only 2.02 xG - only three Championship clubs have posted a lower overall xG return.

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