City have eight points from their first six Championship encounters and face Watford this weekend
Hull City’s encouraging start to the season, which culminated in Saturday’s fine 3-1 win over Southampton, has seen the bookmakers change their tune when it comes to predicting their fortunes.
After a difficult summer off the pitch with the club’s transfer restrictions, coupled with another change of manager on the back of last term’s struggles, City were backed by many pundits and bookmakers to face another difficult season along with crisis-club Sheffield Wednesday.
That convincing win over Southampton, coming on the back of a deserved 2-2 draw at Swansea City the week before, has lifted spirits around the MKM Stadium, especially after successive defeats before the international break.
According to Betfred, City‘s chances of being relegated have gone from 25 per cent down to 12, which reflects what has become an encouraging start to the season for Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers with two wins, draws and defeats from their opening six games.
Their odds of making the top six have also shortened with City just two points off the play-offs at such an early juncture, sitting at 7/1 from 12/1.
“Hull City’s victory over Southampton on Saturday has resulted in The Tigers’ probability of being relegated this season halving from 25 per cent to 12.5 per cent as their price drifted out to 7/1 from 3/1,” Betfred’s Robert Ford told Hull Live.
“Sergej Jakirović’s side only won for the second time this campaign, but they’ve picked up points in four of their opening six games of the new Championship season, and this has created optimism amongst punters that there are eight teams more likely to go down than them.
“Whilst drifting in the relegation market, Saturday’s result has led to Hull City being cut to 12/1 to 7s to finish in the top six this season and into 20/1 from 33s to be promoted. Automatic promotion, on the other hand, is deemed more unlikely, as they’re out at a big price of 28/1 despite being slashed from 50s.
“Sheffield Wednesday continue to head the market, but their spirited win away at Portsmouth has seen them cut into 1/10 from 1/12. There’s currently a 91 per cent probability that The Owls will be relegated this season. Their arch rivals, Sheffield United, have also seen their price cut to 9/1 from 12s, with The Blades without a single point to their name this campaign. They were as far out as 50/1 before the season began.
“Oxford United have edged out to 10/11 after a shock win on the road at Bristol City on Sunday, whilst Derby County and Portsmouth have been cut to 7/2 from 6/1 and 7/1, respectively, with the pair both suffering defeats on home soil.”
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