Hull City welcome Aston Villa to the KC Stadium this weekend, with both teams hoping to continue their fine form so far this season. Hull sit in eighth and Villa sit in ninth for this weekend’s Premier League clash.
The last meeting between the two sides at the KC Stadium ended up with a 2-0 win for Villa back in October 2010, with Gabby Agbonlahor and James Milner scoring for the Villains.
The two sides have had fairly different starts to the season. Hull look confident at home, winning two and drawing once, while they have also managed to pick up an away win at Newcastle United; the two games they lost were against title contenders Chelsea and Manchester City.
Aston Villa have recorded two outstanding results against Manchester City and Arsenal so far this season, winning 3-2 and 3-1 respectively, whilst also beating Norwich City at Carrow Road. Villa have won two away from home, two of their most consistent performances so far this season, especially compared to their home form.
Team News
Hull City will be without one of their star performers this season as Robbie Brady looks set to miss out, while Robert Koren and James Chester also look set to miss out.
Aston Villa have a long injury list, the main casualties are: Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke, while Andreas Weimann has also picked up a knock. Jonas Okore will miss the rest of his debut season. Ashley Westwood looks set to miss the Hull City game.
Interesting Statistics
* Hull City have won back to back Premier League games for the first time since October 2008 [via Stats Zone]
* Villa have kept just one clean sheet in their last 28 league games.
Key Players
Tom Huddlestone vs. Fabian Delph
Both midfielders have been integral to their sides’ good starts this season. Since Huddlestone’s switch from White Hart Lane to the KC Stadium, he has been in fine form, completing 80% of his passing, (226/281 passes) – 36% of his passes were forward, with just 11% of his passes going backwards. On the other hand, Delph has completed 80% of his passes (208/258) – again 36% of his passes went forward, with just 14% of his passes backwards. Delph has a final 3rd pass completion of 68%, significantly better than his opponent Huddlestone, with the former Spurs player only completing 57% of his final 3rd passes.
In terms of the defensive abilities, Delph comes out on top of that in that respect, also.
Of Fabian Delph’s 87 total ground 50-50s, Delph has a 64% ground 50-50 win rate, averaging a ground duel every 6.21 minutes, whereas Huddlestone has attempted 38 total ground 50-50s, with a 58% 50-50 ground duel win rate, averaging a ground duel every 12.66 minutes. In terms of total tackles, Delph has attempted 25 total tackles, with a 68% tackle success, averaging a tackle every 22 minutes. Hull’s Tom Huddlestone has attempted 16 total tackles, with a 68.75% tackle success, averaging a tackle every 30 minutes.
The English midfielders have the ability to read the game at Premier League level, with both midfielders completing a lot of interceptions – Huddlestone has totalled (12) interceptions, Delph has totalled (18) interceptions.
It will be interesting to see who comes out on top between these two English midfielders, as they have so much potential in their game.
Predicted line up, Scoreline and Odds
Injuries may disrupt the two teams for the game at the KC Stadium, which is why I think Marc Albrighton may come in for Andreas Weimann. Paul Lambert may stick with the 3-5-2 system that produced the goods against Manchester City last weekend; Steve Bruce may field a 4-3-3 formation, with David Meyler coming in for Robbie Brady.
This could be a tight clash between the teams, with Hull City looking to continue their fine home form, whereas Aston Villa have been impressive away from home so far this season.
It looks like it may be a score draw between the two sides, with the draw available at 23/10 at William Hill. A 2-2 draw is available at William Hill at 16/1.
