Steve Bruce is still searching for his first win in charge of West Bromwich Albion ahead of a trip to his former club Hull City.
The Baggies have dropped from sixth to 13th in the Championship table under Bruce, while the Tigers are currently 19th.
Match preview
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Having recorded just one goal and one point from his first five matches at West Brom, this is the worst start that Steve Bruce has made to any of his 12 managerial jobs.
If the Championship season had started when the 61-year-old was appointed, the Baggies would be 23rd in the table and only above Peterborough United on goal difference.
A 2-0 home defeat to Swansea City on Monday left the Midlands outfit eight points adrift of the playoffs with 12 games left to play.
West Brom have lost six consecutive matches away from home and have not won on the road since the beginning of December.
However, they still have the third-best defence in the Championship and have won their last four meetings with Hull, with Karlan Grant scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory at The Hawthorns in November.
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Hull ended their own winless run last weekend, triumphing for the first time in seven matches with a convincing 3-0 victory over Peterborough.
Tyler Smith opened the scoring with his first league goal, before a Keane Lewis-Potter brace secured what was only a second win in charge for Shota Arveladze.
It was the first time since the opening day of the season that the Tigers – who are the third-lowest scorers in the Championship – had found the net more than twice in one game.
However, Arveladze's side have lost their last three games at the MKM Stadium, with only Peterborough and Barnsley picking up fewer points at home in the Championship this season.
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Team News
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Callum Elder, Marcus Forss, Allahyar Sayyadmanesh and Tom Eaves are all set to be in contention for Hull after recovering from their respective injuries.
With three forwards returning, Arveladze will have a selection headache in attack given that Smith and Lewis-Potter got on the scoresheet last weekend.
Goalkeeper Nathan Baxter remains sidelined with a hand injury, meaning that Matt Ingram will continue between the sticks.
West Brom will be boosted by the return of captain Jake Livermore, who has been suspended for the last four matches.
Matt Phillips is likely to remain absent as he waits for a stress fracture in his toe to heal, while Daryl Dike continues to be a big miss for the Baggies.
Grant will be pushing to return to the starting lineup after dropping out for Callum Robinson on Monday night.
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Ingram; Jones, Greaves, McLoughlin; Slater, Docherty, Smallwood, Fleming; Lewis-Potter; Forss, Smith
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend; Reach, Livermore, Mowatt; Diangana, Carroll, Grant
We say: Hull City 0-0 West Bromwich Albion
We think that Bruce's wait for a win will go on, but West Brom could take a point from the MKM Stadium considering it is still quite hard to know what to expect from Hull under Arveladze. It is likely to be a low-scoring affair and we actually think it will end goalless.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Bromwich Albion win with a probability of 40.77%. A win for Hull City had a probability of 30.7% and a draw had a probability of 28.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Bromwich Albion win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.12%) and 0-2 (7.92%). The likeliest Hull City win was 1-0 (10.77%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.22%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 7.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that West Bromwich Albion would win this match.
