TEAM NEWS Steve Bruce has no fresh injury concerns for the visit of Stoke City. Sone Aluko and Stephen Quinn remain sidelined with Achilles and hamstring injuries respectively, but otherwise Bruce has a fully-fit squad. Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic suffered a thigh injury in training, leaving Thomas Sorensen poised for a first league start since May 2012. Erik Peters is available after a groin injury, while Matthew Etherington is training again but is not match fit. MATCH PREVIEW After a recent run of good results, both these sides will go into this fixture with an overall feeling of positivity and self-belief. Hull's conquest of Liverpool will doubtless have instilled an overriding assurance that they can beat anyone at home, while their draw at Swansea on Monday contained enough plusses to suggest they have adapted well to life in the top division. LAWRO'S PREDICTION Image of Mark Lawrenson Mark Lawrenson Football analyst "Stoke have struggled to score goals home and away against pretty much any opposition all season, so to go and whack three goals past Chelsea last week will have been a massive lift." Their defeat at the Emirates sandwiched inbetween offered more evidence of Arsenal's quality, rather than any Hull deficiencies. Stoke, meanwhile, are exhibiting their best form since Mark Hughes took over at the Britannia - their wonderful win against Chelsea extended their run to just one defeat in six. And, like Saturday's opponents, it ensured that their points haul is greater than the number of games they've played - always an excellent yardstick by which to measure whether a side is on course to stay up. Hughes has certainly begun to meet the demand to alter his new team's style of play, but his next challenge is to improve their away form - something that has consistently hampered Stoke since their arrival in the Premier League. Last season, for example, they managed just two league victories away from the home comforts of the Potteries, scoring just 13 goals in the process. That disappointing characteristic remains - they've won just one of their seven league away days this time round, scoring just seven goals. Improving this record won't be easy though as Hull have only lost once at home this campaign (albeit to struggling Crystal Palace) and had already defeated Norwich, Sunderland and West Ham prior to their stunning Liverpool performance. Interestingly, four of the last seven league meetings between the two clubs have ended in 1-1 draws, a scoreline which doesn't seem inconceivable when considering their similar records so far this campaign. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head Hull's 2-1 victory in their last home clash with Stoke in November 2009 was their first in five attempts on home soil (W1, D1, L3). Stoke won the last meeting between the sides in April 2010, Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence the scorers. Hull City Hull have only lost once at home this season, against Crystal Palace on 23 November (W4, D2, L1). Only Manchester City (two) have conceded fewer league goals at home this season than Hull (three). After three wins in their opening six Premier League games, Hull have won two of their last nine. The Tigers have only scored more than once in three of their 18 games in all competitions. Danny Graham ended a run of 28 goalless Premier League games against former club Swansea on Monday. Graham had gone 1,626 minutes without a goal. Stoke City Stoke have won two of their last four league fixtures, having previously been winless in eight games. They have fewer points after 15 games (17) than in any of their previous five Premier League campaigns. Their 15 league goals this season have been shared among 11 different scorers. Only Crystal Palace and Sunderland have earned fewer away points this season than Stoke (four). The Potters' only away win was back in August, at West Ham. After 36 consecutive games without a Premier League goal, Stephen Ireland has scored twice in his last three appearances.
Just to add a bit more spice Brucey and Hughes arent the best of friends. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/13/steve-bruce-mark-hughes-hull-city-stoke-city Next spring signals the 20th anniversary of Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce winning the double at Manchester United but when the pair reconvene on Saturday their body language may seem surprisingly frosty. Despite that close professional bond during those highly decorated Old Trafford playing days, the Welsh centre-forward and the Geordie centre-half were never close. As Hughes's Stoke City side take the field against Bruce's Hull at the KC Stadium memories may well be revived of the time ice really began permeating their relationship. Now Stoke's assistant manager, Mark Bowen will be in the away dug-out on Saturday evening but Bruce has never really forgiven Hughes for poaching his old sidekick from Birmingham City to work first with Wales, then at Blackburn Rovers. Bruce has acknowledged the two old United team-mates "did not speak for years" following a combination of Bowen's defection and Robbie Savage's decision to also exchange Birmingham for Blackburn. "We've got a mutual respect but it's not right to say we're pals, that's for sure," said Bruce some time after this double blow. "We played in the same team and I enjoyed playing with him but it would be wrong to say we're pals because we're not. I'm not his pal like I am with Bryan Robson or Gary Pallister. I don't think I've spoken to him for years. It happens." Relations have mellowed slightly in recent times. Hughes, who turned 50 in October, was gratified that Bruce, 53 on New Year's Eve, offered him public support when, back in December 2009, his then Sunderland side lost 4-3 away to a Manchester City team managed by Hughes for the final time. With the Welshman still to be formally informed of the open secret that Roberto Mancini was taking over Bruce made plain his outrage at City's behaviour. Four years ago neither man would have envisaged themselves seeking to banish relegation worries in the slightly less glamorous surrounds of Hull and Stoke. While Hughes had seemed destined for another prestigious posting - at least until he took a subsequent wrong turn with QPR – Bruce was delighted to have secured the biggest job of his managerial career at Sunderland. It did not last, ending with an acrimonious sacking in November 2011. Stung by criticism effectively dubbing him "a dinosaur" following his time at Sunderland, a man who, unlike Hughes, became close to Sir Alex Ferguson after leaving United, has since re-invented himself at Hull. For a time the seemingly slightly disorganised Bruce contrasted badly with Hughes's much more fastidious, disciplined, sports science informed persona – staff at Fulham were sometimes left exasperated by the Welshman's insistence that training ground drinks bottles were lined up with their labels at the same angles - but things have changed. Last season's unlikely promotion with Hull has brought Bruce new found respect. Indeed the only cloud on a horizon dominated by his team's exciting 3-5-2 formation, Tom Huddlestone's wonderfully calibrated passing and David Meyler's return to the impressive midfield form which saw the young Irishman's career promise so much before he underwent two career saving knee operations at Sunderland is the club's proposed name change. Protests against the decision of Assem Allam, Hull's owner, to somehow bludgeon through a switch from Hull City to Hull Tigers are expected to serve as a soundtrack to Saturday's game. Should such discontent start unsettling Bruce's players, Hughes will aim to capitalise. Last weekend's 3-2 home win against Chelsea has helped ease Stoke's sometimes awkward transition from Tony Pulis's brutally direct gameplans to a rather more fluid passing game and Hughes is anxious for another victory. Like his Hull counterpart he remains in the process of redeeming a dented managerial reputation but will not be under-estimated by Bruce. "People were surprised when Mark Hughes became a manager," he said. "But maybe they shouldn't have been because, as a player, he became a totally different person when he went onto the pitch. He was so quiet and such an introverted character but then he pulled on the shirt and he was like an animal."
Nice bit of relevance and sanity to introduce into today's swirling mix of emotions, Chazz. Good one. COYT!
Mcgregor Rosy Davies Faye Figgy Elmo Livermore Hudd Meyler Sagbo Graham Walters isnt playing, dunno who is going to come in for them. But they have wide men who sling it in. Its a great game for Rosy to play in. You need proper hard tackling defenders today. I want to see Hudd and Livermore get stuck in today, both tend to try and nick the ball. We need a proper crunching tackle in midfield. Plus someone please kick Charlie Adam, more than once!!
McG Chester Bruce Davies Elmo Livermore Hudd Meyler Brady Sagbo Graham I think Figgy would be really unlucky to miss out but the way Bruce has played against Liverpool and Swansea, you can't drop him. Brady probably doesn't deserve the game but he's one of our exceptional players and we need to get him into form. Seems a good opportunity, same with Graham.
But, Chazzman, the evidence would seem to show that Elmo thrives best in a 5-man midfield, as a wing-back.
Trust me Stan. I have 200 page dossier showing this not to be the case, I've decided not to divulge it in your own best interests but it is real honestly.
Rumour has it (The Fail) that it's to be 3-5-2 again: http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull...mation-Stoke/story-20322231-detail/story.html
I reckon this will be one of those games where whichever team scores the most goals would win, but they might not score or both score the same amount of goals.
