Things are suddenly looking much brighter for Nigel Pearson at Hull City and the Tigers look a decent bet to account for Ipswich at the KC Stadium on Saturday.

Like many teams newly-relegated from the Premier League, the players started the season somewhat deflated with the club shouldering a much-publicised burden of debt due to excessive spending in the top flight.

It's unclear just how perilous the situation was behind the scenes but it's only natural that speculation about the possibility of administration was affecting the dressing room, which resulted in some pretty lacklustre displays in the opening three months.

However, the recent Allam family takeover has clearly had a galvanising effect if last Friday's businesslike 2-0 victory at Preston is anything to go by. 

It was a no-nonsense performance that carried all the hallmarks of a Pearson team and we're inclined to believe the Humberside outfit will be worth keeping an eye in the coming weeks and months now that the owners have vowed to wipe out debts of £20m.

Better news still is their promise to provide the manager with funds in the January transfer window.

All of a sudden, players who have been down in the dumps and feeling sorry for themselves must now up their game if they don't wish to be tossed on the scrapheap and it's amazing the impact that such a subtle realisation can have.

There's certainly enough Championship experience in the ranks to suggest that Hull should be competing with a mid-ranking outfit like the Tractor Boys and we see value in the general 2.50 quote about the home win now that the mood has shifted firmly towards the positive.

Ipswich ended a sequence of three straight away defeats with a rather fortunate 2-1 success over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane a fortnight ago but they remain some way short of the standards required to land a play-off berth.

Back-to-back home defeats against Derby and Barnsley means they have now lost six of their last nine matches in total - hardly a statistic that's brings an element of fear to a bet like this.

Meanwhile, Burnley have yet to triumph on the road this season, which kind of leaves you wondering how they can be chalked up virtually each-of-two for the trip to Coventry.

In fairness, the Clarets have only lost twice in eight matches outside of Lancashire - and not since September 14 - but they can't keep drawing forever and the recent surrender of two-goal leads at Sheffield United and Norwich would indicate they have a tendency to crumble.

By contrast, Coventry seem to have an adversity to unsettled business, having only played out three draws in their 17 matches so far this season.

They will be looking to curtail a sequence of three straight defeats but we're encouraged by reports that Aidy Boothroyd's men remained competitive in all of those matches, so we're inclined to believe the topsy-turvy nature of their season can continue with a return to winning ways here.

Like any Boothroyd side, the Sky Blues play to certain individual strengths that you have to make allowances for and we're not convinced Brian Laws is a manager who reserves such respect for the opposition in his strategy.

Therefore, we'll snap up the 2.60 about the hosts and hope they make home advantage count.

Finally, Derby suffered a rare defeat at local rivals Leicester last Saturday and we think it could be the result that brings the curtain down on their recent purple patch.

Nigel Clough's men have been in imperious form of late, particularly at Pride Park, but it's a not standard we envisage they can maintain for too long and Sky Bet's 9/2 quote about Scunthorpe simply doesn't do their away record justice.

The Iron have won five of their eight matches on the road - each one of them at 4.00 or bigger - and they're unlikely to suffer any kind of inferiority complex having completed a league double over the Rams last season, including a 4-1 win at Pride Park back in January.

PICKS:
Coventry to beat Burnley at 2.60 at Bet365.
Scunthorpe to beat Derby at 5.25 at Bet365 and Betsson.
Hull City to beat Ipswich at 2.50 at Bet365.