“A club steeped in nearly 150 years of history is worth more to the local community than any amount of money can express.” – Wrexham born former-footballer, Robbie Savage.
….and Wrexham certainly have that. As the 3rd oldest football team in the world, they have a proud history backing up their recent rise up the table funded by Hollywood’s millions. Hated by some they may be, but there’s no doubting that former-Tigers boss Phil Parkinson has constructed a competitive championship side; currently sitting comfortable in mid-table, a point behind The Tigers.

Aside from Parkinson, there are a number of other sub-plots that surround this seemingly mundane-looking fixture. Andy Cannon and Ryan Longman are both former Tigers, with the latter probably having the most to prove having been arguably under-rated by the MKM faithful during his time with us. Josh Windass sports the surname of possibly the most famous ex-Tiger in the last 30 years, and Ben Sheaf’s brother Max played a handful of times for City between 2018-2021. Keiffer Moore, who was set to sign for Tim Walter last summer, has 8 goals in 17 for Wrexham since signing from Sheff United.

Nestled just behind City in the table, Wrexham started life in the Championship rather slowly, but now, after Coventry’s defeat at the weekend, are the team with the longest unbeaten streak in the league. 4 wins and 5 draws is certainly top-half form, although with 5 draws in their past 6 away games, the Red Dragons are probably a team that are more to be feared when playing at the Racecourse Ground. In fact, their last win on the road was back in September against Norwich, and everyone beats Norwich at Carrow Road.

A major factor in their ability to pick up solitary points on their travels has come from their defensive record. 8 goals conceded in 9 matches is the joint best in the league, and whilst City have picked up a respectable 17 points from 10 home fixtures, they’ve lost their last 2 and are on a current slump of 4 defeats in the past 6 matches. Even the victories have been marginal in that run; Stoke away springing to mind. In that game, City were outplayed in the 1st half, and the hosts recorded more shots (7 on target), more touches in the box (22), and more xG from open-play (0.78) in 90 minutes. When you compare this to our previous game in which we were 4-0 down at half time to Middlesbrough (5 shots on target, 15 touches in our box, and xG from open play of 1.25), you can see we were fortunate to concede only once and take 3 points vs the Potters.

So what of Wrexham? Well, in their previous match, Moore put them ahead after 4 minutes against Preston and they ended up taking home a point. If we look at similar stats as to what we did above, you’ll see that they faced 24 shots (7 on target), 50(!) touches in their box, and Preston had an xG of 2.07 from open play. In summary, they were cut wide open and really should have conceded more. It’s a similar story from their previous away draw (0-0 v Ipswich on November 22nd). Parkinson’s men were dominated throughout, having 0 shots on target to Ipswich’s 8, 3 touches in the opponent’s box whilst facing 24 from the opposition, and had an xG of 0.05, showing that a goalless draw was the only way they were ever going to pick up anything. In summary, Wrexham have been lucky on their current unbeaten run, appear to set up defensively on their travels yet are still often cut apart.

I think this gives Sergej’s boys a realistic chance. McBurnie will be hoping to feature off the bench, as will Millar. Belloumi is surely ready for a start now, and Charlie Hughes should return. Questions still exist around the ability of a Lundstram-less midfield to shield the back-four, and Pandur won’t be happy to have conceded 4 goals from 5 shots in the previous fixture, but we’ve looked good going forward, still boasting the 3rd best attack in the league. Moore will cause problems no doubt, and it looks like we’ll be missing Gelhardt with a calf injury, but with Belloumi from the start, and Millar and McBurnie joining at some stage, I think we’ll have too much for Deadpool’s Dragons.

My prediction: Hull City 2 – 1 Wrexham

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Coyle, Hughes, Egan, Giles; Hadziahmetovic, Slater; Ndala, Crooks, Belloumi; Destan