The 2018/19 Championship season is going to be very exciting and we have some great matches to look forward to this weekend. The final game in the first round of matches is between Hull City and Aston Villa at the KCOM Stadium on Monday night.
Hull City struggled towards the bottom of the Championship table last season and will be aiming to make a significant improvement. If they can start well and keep a position in the top half they have an outside chance of making the playoffs.
Aston Villa finis fourth last season, 7 points adrift of the automatic promotion places. Having entered the playoffs, Aston Villa defeated Middlesbrough 1-0 on aggregate before losing by the same score-line to Fulham in the final.
Hull City have found life tough in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League in 2017. They lost several key players and struggled to recover but will be hoping to have a more solid foundation to build on this season, starting with 3 points from this game.
Hull City’s preseason has been challenging and they have won one of their five friendly games. That was their first fixture of the summer against Maritimo and since then they have drawn two and lost two matches.
Home form in the Championship last season was not good and trends show Hull City have won just five of their last seventeen home league games. There has been very little consistency in their results, with some exciting, high scoring wins and a selection of 0-0 draws.
Aston Villa have been in the news for all the wrong reasons this summer but their financial issues seem to be behind them. There was also the link with Thierry Henry coming in as a new manager but Steve Bruce has remained in charge of the club.
With all that concluded, Aston Villa will be happy to start playing competitive football and they enjoyed a good preseason. They lost just one of their six friendly games and won four, scoring plenty of goals in the process.
Championship form tailed off towards the end of last season, with under 2.5 goals scored in their last five games but Aston Villa picked up many points on the road. They won seven of their last twelve away league matches but there were some erratic performances. A good example was the 3-1 defeat at Norwich city followed by a 4-0 win at Ipswich Town.
Looking ahead to the team news and both teams have several players on the treatment table. Hull City could be without Jackson Irvine, Jordy de Wijs, Reece Burke, William Keane, Frazier Campbell and James Weir who are all doubtful. Ondrej Mazuch will definitely miss out with a knee injury.
Aston Villa are sweating on the fitness of Jonathan Kodjia, Callum O’Hare and Scott Hogan, with the former expected to return early August but this game may come too soon.
Both matches between these teams ended in a draw last season. However, Aston Villa enjoyed a good preseason on the field and with the financial issues behind them, could come through to win the match to nil.