Fleetwood Town v Hull City Tips: Back the Tigers to continue fine form in West Lancashire

With the top two divisions in England taking a mini-sabbatical due to the international break, League One takes centre stage and this Friday there’s a cracker on the box, with Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town welcoming Hull City to Highbury.

Grant McCann’s side endured a torrid campaign last time out, relegated from the second tier back in July, though this season they have started brightly by winning each of their opening four league games. 

Form like this sees the Tigers enter the match-up as favourites, given an implied 42% chance of victory by the bookmakers with their odds of 11/8. Fleetwood, meanwhile, have started poorly by losing three of their first four games and are 2/1 shots for the win on Friday evening - an implied chance of 33%.

With no injury concerns for Fleetwood, Barton will line-up with his strongest side for this one. Grant McCann will be without Josh Magennis due to the striker being away on international duty with Northern Ireland, while Tom Eaves will miss the game through injury.

Captain Richie Smallwood and Mallik Wilks could return to the starting line-up, though, after both trained with the first team this week following injury lay-offs.

Below, you’ll find my three football tips for the game, which kicks-off at 7:45pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports.

I’m kicking things off with Hull to win the game, priced at 11/8 with Betfair. The Tigers have hit the ground running this time out, winning all four of their opening league games whilst conceding 0 goals in the process - results which have seen Grant McCann nominated for the League One Manager of the Month award for September.

This form is perhaps unsurprising, though, given the sort of personnel the visitors for this clash have available to them. The likes of Josh Magennis, George Honeyman and Reece Burke are all players of Championship quality and would walk into pretty much any side in League One, and each have shown their quality in the early stages of this campaign. 

With confidence sky-high and plenty of momentum behind them, I’m happy to get behind a Hull win here, and feel that the 11/8 on offer with Betfair represents great value with their early form considered.

Sticking with Hull, I’m backing Grant McCann’s side to win by a 2-0 correct scoreline. As touched on above, the East Yorkshiremen have won all four of their opening league games without conceding - highlighting just how strong they have been defensively as well as at the top end of the pitch.

Hull have beaten Gillingham and Northampton 2-0, whilst also obtaining two 1-0 victories over Crewe and most recently Plymouth last weekend and with Fleetwood struggling to find the net at the moment (just two goals scored in their last three league matches), I don’t see them offering too much in the way of a threat in front of goal here.

Indeed, what Grant McCann will perhaps be most pleased about is how little his team’s opponents have been able to register shots on goal so far. 

Hull have only conceded an average of 8.80 opposition shots per game, with only five teams bettering those numbers, further proving how defensively solid they have been not just at the back but also when defending from the front and in midfield to block out long range strikes from distance as well as in the penalty area.

At 13/1 with BetVictor, Hull to win 2-0 is my second play for this Friday’s clash and represents good value given the same bet is priced at just 10/1 with Betway.

To round things off I’ve chosen a bet at a slightly higher price: Wes Burns to be booked, Keane Lewis-Potter to score anytime and under 4.5 match goals at 18/1 with bet365. 

Fleetwood forward Burns has been deployed mainly as a right-back by manager Joey Barton this season, though it’s clear he is more at home on the right wing as he is often guilty of committing silly fouls when carrying out his defensive duties. 

The Welshman - who has averaged 0.7 fouls per game so far - has been booked twice in his three league appearances this term and I can see him picking up another yellow in this one against the pace and trickery of Hull wide man George Honeyman. 

Doubling this up I’m getting behind Hull winger Keane Lewis-Potter to score anytime. 

The 19-year-old has been a standout performer for the visitors so far, netting two goals in his opening four matches and will be keen to add to his tally on the Fylde coast. 

Lewis-Potter leads his side for xG (expected goals) with a rating of 1.48, while he has registered a total of 10 shots so far this term - five of which have been on target (two goals). 

I’m hoping that KLP can put in another stellar performance against Fleetwood, and am confident in including him in my longshot bet, alongside under 4.5 match goals given the fact that neither side have scored more than two goals in a single league game so far this season - boosting the odds nicely to 18/1. 

Enjoy the game and good luck if you're on board with any of these tips, but please remember to always gamble responsibly.