, Championship giant-killers face pressure on Saturday

Championship giant-killers face pressure on Saturday

Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough all return to Championship action this weekend on the back of Capital One Cup victories during the week. They defeated Leicester City, Arsenal and Manchester United respectively, providing a great confidence boost amongst their respective squads.

However, it is worth noting that whilst each of those successes were against the odds, they have certainly increased the pressure upon themselves. Of course it is well-known that you can be the victims of your own success, the amount of newly-promoted Premier League managers that depart the following season is proof of this. For Steve Bruce, Carlos Carvalhal and Aitor Karanka, they head into their Saturday Championship fixtures as big favourites. They are now expected to win and win well. Anything other than this and their cup exploits aren’t completely forgotten, but it would resemble a bit of a bump back to reality.

Hull travel to MK Dons, and the form between the two clubs couldn’t be much different. MK Dons sit just above the relegation zone, losing their last two games to nil and only collecting one victory in their last ten games. The Tigers have climbed into the automatic promotion places and are now nine games without a defeat. During that time they have won five times, plus knocked out Premier League opposition in the cup and have the best defence in the whole division now. Steve Bruce arguably would have preferred playing against top of the league and unbeaten Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend. Even if they win this weekend, they were expected to do so. Lose, and the fickle nature of football supporters will bring everyone back down to earth. It is never straightforward to win at stadium:mk, so Hull, who will travel in numbers, need to be able to handle the pressure.

Sheffield Wednesday entertain Nottingham Forest, who are best described as being their ‘bogey’ team according to many locals. However, the fact of the matter is that they enter this game after quite simply outplaying and thrashing Arsenal on Tuesday night. They are now unbeaten in seven and are probably in their best place for some seasons now. Nottingham Forest are another team struggling for form and they are without a victory in six. They have big injury problems and that has been the case all season long. On paper, this is a straightforward home win. However how many times has a team lost their next game on the back of a cup shock. If only we had that stat! Once again, all the pressure is on the Owls, pressure which they probably aren’t used to. Can they handle it?

Finally, Middlesbrough entertain Charlton Athletic in what is probably the ‘easiest’ game out of all of the Championship giant killers this weekend. However Charlton will be something of an unknown quantity, as they are again under new management, and again that manage is someone us British folk aren’t well aware of. The recent draw at home to Fulham is an example of Middlesbrough not necessarily handling the pressure of a situation where they are expected to win at home. They have only not won twice at home this season, but literally all of the pressure is on them in this match. Anything but a Middlesbrough win, and everyone will be scratching their heads. The cup is a secondary bonus to Boro this season and promotion is by far the priority. It all depends on how much of Old Trafford’s exertions will affect them at the Riverside Stadium come Saturday afternoon. Karanka did make plenty of changes for the midweek cup tie, so perhaps it may not have as much influence as expected. But once again, we pose the question, can they handle the pressure?

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