AI predicts the exact score of Hull City v Middlesbrough play-off final | OneFootball

A place in the Premier League is on the line at Wembley Stadium this Saturday

Hull City and Middlesbrough are now just one game away from the Premier League, as the two sides ramp up their preparations for the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Neither side has come this close to returning to the top-flight since they were both relegated alongside each other nine years ago, with over £200m on the line in terms of prize money too.

The lead-up to this particular Championship play-off final has also been the most unusual.

Kim Hellberg's side were reinstated to the showpiece event in North London earlier in the week after Southampton were expelled from the post-season promotion lottery after the decision to do so, as well as serve the Hampshire outfit a four-point deduction for next season, after the admittance of multiple breaches to EFL regulation 127, was upheld by a league arbitration panel, which included the first leg of their play-off semi-final against Boro at the Riverside Stadium almost two weeks ago.

Sergej Jakirovic's men, meanwhile, continued to defy the odds by defeating Millwall in the semi-finals, with a 2-0 win at The Den proving crucial after a goalless first encounter at the MKM Stadium, and higher-ups in East Yorkshire have also had plenty to say over the Spygate debacle which has, to an extent, overshadowed the build-up to club football's highest-valued game.

So often, play-off finals are extremely tight contests, which in itself, makes calling a winner an extremely tough decision, with supporters of either Hull or Middlesbrough likely to go with a 'heart over head' approach if pressed for a scoreline.

With that said, Football League World has put AI to the test, seeing if ChatGPT can correctly predict the EXACT outcome of what unfolds in North London.

AI predicts the exact outcome of Hull City v Middlesbrough play-off final

Last season's final saw Sunderland emerge 2–1 victors over Sheffield United, with boyhood Black Cats supporter, Tommy Watson, sealing the comeback victory with virtually the last kick of the encounter.

Both City and Reds supporters will potentially be hoping, from their perspective, that a heart-stopping finish is not the outcome, as joyous as it would be if they were on the winning side.

The two sides have won one game apiece against each other this season too, with Boro running riot at the MKM Stadium back on December 5th, being 4-0 up after 43 minutes in a 4-1 success, before Darko Gyabi's winner saw Hull emerge victorious at the Riverside 34 days later after a resolute defensive showing.

In this particular game, AI believes Middlesbrough will dominate possession, whilst Hull will look to capitalise on any major mistakes, which, to a degree, has become a recurring trend under Jakirovic.

That said, it has been predicted the East Yorkshire outfit will take the lead just after the half-hour mark with a curling strike from Joe Gelhardt, following on from his crucial goal at Millwall last time out.

The computer has then claimed that Hull will concede their first-ever goal in a play-off final 18 minutes after the restart, with Morgan Whittaker firing home what would be a 15th goal of the season in all competitions with a low effort from the edge of the box.

However, for all their control on the ball, AI believes Oli McBurnie, who has been a cult hero for the Tigers in his first season at the club,will punish Middlesbrough by connecting with a Ryan Giles cross - as has been the case many times this season - two minutes from time to power a header past Sol Brynn.

Oli McBurnie will manifest becoming a Hull City hero at Wembley Stadium

McBurnie has scored 17 times already for Hull this season after moving back to Yorkshire on a free transfer following one season in La Liga with Las Palmas, and an 18th goal at Wembley is likely to be manifested by the 29-year-old.

Despite recording 26 goal contributions in all competitions, he was once again omitted from Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, on Tuesday, which will also serve as extra motivation.

He then issued a rallying cry to supporters later that day after learning of the change of opponents in this weekend's final, which certainly saw excitement levels return to some after initial anger over the aforementioned jeopardy of whether the game would go ahead as planned.