Get the latest Boro stories straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Enter your email Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Hull City will finish in the top two and Burnley could well squeeze out Boro as the other side to win automatic promotion, says Ian Holloway.

The TV pundit reckons he can name five sides who will finish in the top six, but says four others will be scrapping for the remaining play-off spot.

And although it was only two months ago when Holloway was saying Boro "almost look like a Premier League side already" , he now believes a struggle in front of goal could haunt them in the final months of the season.

"I am confident putting Hull, Burnley, Brighton, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough in the top five," he says.

"I think Hull will get in the top two, Burnley could easily do it, Boro can't score at the moment but they will be one of the top six.

"Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton will be in there and won't blow up, then you are talking Derby, Birmingham, Ipswich or Cardiff in a scrap for the last place.

"For Derby it's about stopping the rot. I think the worst thing that happened to them was the chairman going into the dressing room and telling them how bad a draw with Reading was.

"It undermines the manager and now he's gone and they have given the job to an academy director. You have to be worried if you are a Derby fan because you have teams coming up behind you and the competition is so strong.

"Somebody needs the consistency to get the last spot but I think it's a case of watch this space."

Hull and Burnley are both looking to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking after suffering relegation last year and Holloway, who won promotion with Crystal Palace in 2013, believes extra nous could prove crucial in the run-in.

"The teams with the advantage are the ones who have done it before," he told Sky Sports.

"Brighton have a manager who has won the league, Ipswich's Mick McCarthy has won it twice while Burnley and Hull have done it recently.

"It really does help when you know what it takes in these last few months, where you need consistency and team spirit more than anything. You need to pull it out of the fire, when you are losing you have to get out of it together."

Most of the sides in the promotion mix took the opportunity in January to strengthen their squads, with Boro splashing the most cash with the £9m capture of Jordan Rhodes.

It was a free transfer which caught Holloway's eye though, who believes Lloyd Dyer's switch from Watford to Burnley could prove to be a stroke of genius by Sean Dyche.

"Dyer is a fantastic signing, it might even guarantee them promotion," he said.

"He is so enthusiastic. He is quick and works so hard. He's a typical Burnley player who will work his socks off, do what the team needs and never give up."